Sake Special Ops
by Flaming Kyo
Summary: ShunxNanao: 'Nanao was aware of an enormous pair of arms enveloping her as the flames struck and the sickening realization that the only reason she wasn’t burning was because the man protecting her had taken the attack.' chapter 3 R
1. Sake

Ise Nanao could feel the knot forming in her brow as she watched the hopeless man before her trying hopelessly to look busy. She had been gone from the 8th Squad main office for the better part of two hours, the Fukutaichos meeting that was held weekly in Seireitei, but already it had fallen into chaos. Paper was lying all over the floor, the windows were carelessly flung open despite of the snow outside and _sake_ bottles were perched behind the sofa in a very sloppy attempt to hide them. Kyouraku Shunsui looked up at her, his cheeks ruddy despite his efforts at disguise, and smiled dozily.

'My lovely Nanao-chan,' he declared as he stood, holding out his arms for a hug. He did this at least once a day, and she ignored him just as easily. 'How was your meeting?'

'Fine,' she replied pushing up the glasses that were constantly slipping down the bridge of her nose. 'Did you get the paperwork done, Taicho? Sasakibe-Fukutaicho will be along at midday for this quarter's budget. And,' she added pushing up her glasses again. 'We need to come up with plausible excuses for our over-expenditure.'

'Over-expenditure?' He repeated mildly, genuinely confused. She could always tell by the look in his eye if something genuinely didn't make any sense because it happened whenever he got his hands on some _sake._

'Yes. _Sake_ doesn't grow on trees, Taicho. We need to work the fact a large proportion of our budget goes on alcohol into a deductible tax expense.' She sighed deeply. 'I should have started work on this a week ago.'

Kyouraku stared at her, dumbfounded. 'Nanao-chan?'

'Never mind.' She looked at the clock, it was eleven already and the budget hadn't even been considered yet. The ryoka invasion had been keeping her desk busy for weeks, only now was she getting back to the paperwork required to keep 8th Squad running. She didn't mind his slacking most of the time, but today was just one step too far. 'Well Taicho,' Nanao said calmly as the anger welled inside of her. 'I will try and salvage what I can. Why don't you go and take a nap upstairs?'

'But Nanao-' he began to plead before being silenced by a glare. He sighed heavily and trounced from the room, slamming the door a little harder than he intended behind him. Nanao jumped, sensing she may have upset him more than she intended and was on the verge of going after him to apologise but stopped before she reached the door. Her eye caught sight of the clock, it was 11.05, and her anger wiped out any regret she had in a heartbeat. She sat down at her desk, eyeing the enormous portfolio she would have to complete and immersed herself in the work.

The loud thumping came faster than Nanao expected and it took a while for it to register in her head. She looked up blankly for a few seconds before springing to her feet. There was a high pitched scream and she found herself buried between Matsumoto Rangiku's large bosomed embrace.

'Nanao, you look stressed!' Rangiku screamed as she barged into the office. Her cheeks were flushed, and Nanao suspected she'd been drinking. 'Are you busy?'

'I'm doing the budget,' she admitted with a grudge.

Matsumoto shot a confused look as she lay down on the sofa. 'Isn't that your Taicho's job? Hitsugaya-Taicho was grumpy for an entire week trying to figure them out.'

Nanao pursed her lips and said nothing of it. 'Sorry Rangiku, but I really am busy. Kyouraku-Taicho is getting drunk upstairs, why don't you go and see if he needs some company.'

The flamed haired woman opened her mouth to say something, but suddenly thought better of it. 'You should close the windows Nanao, or you'll catch a cold.'

Nanao watched her friend leave and suddenly felt the need to go after her and apologies. And she would have done, had she the time. But the budget was only half done and there was no time. Feeling miserable she picked up the pen and continued on working.

Sasakibe-Fukutaicho arrived right on time as per usual and she recognized his distinct knock the second she heard it. Nanao's fingers were aching but at least it was finished, and she didn't have to worry about it anymore. She answered the door and welcomed the older Fukutaicho in with a bow.

'No Kyouraku-Taicho today?' He asked as he viewed the messy office.

'He's occupied at the moment,' Nanao informed, handing Sasakibe the portfolio. He looked at it briefly, recognizing her handwriting, and pursed his lips ever so slightly. 'Forgive me but I have work to do.'

'Of course, I will see myself out and Nanao-'

'Yes?'

He looked around the room again. 'Never mind.'

She stared at the door long after he left and felt a headache start to develop. A gale was howling outside causing the windows to smack against the wall but it was suddenly far to warm to close them. Cursing the onset of her sudden ill health Nanao pushed it to the back of her mind and decided to priorities what needed to be done. All of the ryoka paperwork had been finished, all it needed was her Taicho's signature, and that left the job of reassignments, the payroll, the bar tab and the distribution of new swords to those Shinigami who did not possess a shikai – all jobs that required her Taicho's lazy handwriting.

Picking up her oversized tome and the large pile of paper Nanao left the office in search of where ever Kyouraku had decided to take a nap. She didn't expect him to be upstairs and wasn't disappointed, although Matsumoto had managed to entice several members of 8th Squad into an unofficial party. She slipped by them unnoticed and back down into the garden where he fell asleep every afternoon before the snow had started. The bench was empty, as was the tree branch, so that left by the pond or the entire of Seireitei. He wasn't by the water's edge and Nanao felt her fragile temper begin to slip. She had managed to convince him to sleep in the garden, if he ever felt the need to nap outside, but today he seemed to have ignored that conversation.

Nanao closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on his reiatsu. Somehow they all seemed to blend together so that meant sending a hell butterfly would be impossible. She would have to search by foot, alone, since the remaining squad that was nearby had been incapacitated by Matsumoto.

And, as luck would have it, the snow had started to fall heavily.

It was after two when Nanao finally came across a hint that Kyouraku-Taicho hadn't disappeared off the face of the planet. She had stumbled across Ukitake-Taicho on her way to check the bar and had attracted his attention when an enormous pile of paper flew from her arms. She caught most of them in her reiatsu but one got loose and found its way into his hand. He smiled at her weakly.

'It's windy today,' he observed as he handed her the paper. 'Are you looking for Shunsui?'

'I am,' she replied coldly.

'He's being irresponsible again I see. Follow me.'

Silently she followed the white haired captain, his reiatsu succeeding in keeping most of the wind from their faces. Unsurprisingly the city was devoid of Shinigami with the exception of a few unfortunate guards as the snow grew increasingly worse. She was glad to see the large wooden gates of 13th Squad rise towards her. Ukitake showed her inside and they made their way to the main office.

Nanao about cried with despair when she saw the orderly room before her, not a paper out of place and several subordinates working hard at their desks. The only mess was the sleeping form of a broad man beneath a pink haori on top of a sofa that was far too small for him to lie down. Nanao couldn't help but wander if falling asleep in other division's offices was some tradition she had been left out of but it seemed to be occurring rather frequently. A knot twisted her brow.

'Shunsui was asleep at the gate when we found him,' Ukitake-Taicho informed her as Kyouraku tossed onto his side and mumbled something. 'How irresponsible of him to take advantage of his good health like that: falling asleep in a blizzard, even that's a first for him!'

'Thank you for taking care of him Ukitake-Taicho,' Nanao replied as the fury that was building inside of her boiled down to a cold rage. 'Kyouraku-Taicho!'

Kyouraku stirred at the mention of his name and opened one of his brown eyes lazily. 'Nanao-chan? And if it isn't Jyuushiro as well!'

'I need you to sign these,' Nanao informed, straight to the point. She was in no mood for his idle banter. He looked up at her with his puppy-dog eyes and smiled. 'Taicho, please.'

His smile faded as he accepted the documents and scratched his name on to the points she had indicated. With a bow Nanao left without another word and ignored the call of her name as she did.

Angrily she trudged back to 8th Squad in record time since she was paying absolutely no attention to where she was going. The entire building had gone quiet as she entered and if possible it was colder inside than it was out. At last she closed the window of the office and sank into her chair feeling dizzy. Her head hit the desk, mere inches from exhaustion, but her stubbornness did not allow her more than a couple of minutes of rest. Somehow a pen found its way into her hand and the overdue work was underway.

The clock chimed five o'clock and, as if on cue, Matsumoto came bounding through the door in good spirits in search of her friend. 'Still here Nanao? Are you going to the women's meeting tonight, very important business?'

'I suppose I am. I wouldn't want to miss out on the planning of the Annual Ball,' she replied sarcastically. Luckily her reluctance was lost on Matsumoto.

'It will be fun. Besides your good at organizing things, the place would fall a part without you.'

'Fine, let's get this meeting over with quickly so I can tackle the mountain of reports that I need to finish.'

Matsumoto grabbed her by the arm and pulled her all the way to the same meeting hall they had used this morning for the earlier meeting. Everyone it seemed was already present with the exception of Unohana-taicho who arrived a few minutes later with a smile as always. She looked around, her eyes lingering on Nanao a second longer than was normal, and her smile slipped ever so slightly.

Never normally a drinker, everyone including Nanao was surprised when she decided to accept the _sake_ that was being offered by Soi Fong, who hardly ever attended any meeting but had found the time to attend the one concerning the Ball. Nanao wouldn't have expected it of 2nd Squad's ever frowning taicho but for once she seemed to be in a good mood. It took very little time for the discussions to begin.

Three hours and a lot of arguing later had left Nanao feeling exhausted. The first cup of _sake_ had seen her through the entire meeting; unfortunately the others weren't so modest. Soi Fong had rivaled Rangiku in consumption and both were at the point of unconscious by the time Unohana declared the meetings abrupt end. From there Nanao helped support Matsumoto back to 10th Squad and an irate Hitsugaya-taicho who, once again, was denied the aid of his Fukutaicho due to incapacitation. Safely sprawled in the sofa, they left Matsumoto to sleep and Nanao accompanied Unohana back towards 4th Division.

'You've been overworking again,' Unohana observed as they walked through the softly falling snow. 'You should go home and sleep, Nanao.'

Nanao pushed her glasses up. 'I couldn't possibly. There is still far too much to do at the office. I will be fine, Unohana-taicho.'

Unohana stopped and gave her a look of concern. 'I will keep a bed on reserve at the Healing House for you. Good Night.'

The taicho headed east and Nanao headed west back towards the office. The blizzard started quickly and Nanao did not regret her decision to run back. Panting she reached the door and felt a familiar presence behind her.

'Kyouraku-taicho,' she acknowledged turning around to meet his eyes. They looked tired; he must have missed his evening nap. Nanao felt a twinge of concern but suddenly remembered that grown men shouldn't need _any_ naps.

'Nanao-chan,' he began uncharacteristically sober. 'You look tired; you should go home and sleep.'

'I look tired?' She repeated as anger, again, started to get the best of her. 'I will go home when the office doesn't look like a paper mine exploded.'

'Nanao-chan, there is no such thing as a paper mine,' Kyouraku retorted entirely serious. A look of confusion crossed his features. 'Is there?'

Despite her best efforts Nanao couldn't stop the smile from slipping on to her lips. 'Paper comes from trees, taicho.'

'Yes,' he replied with a wink. 'But _sake_ doesn't come from trees.'

'No it doesn't. If you will excuse me…'

'Ise-Fukutaicho,' Kyouraku said suddenly. 'I forbid you to enter this building until tomorrow; that's an order.'

'Does that mean you are going to finish the rest of the paper work?' An ill look crossed his face. 'Well then I cannot obey that order.'

'Nanao-chan,' Kyouraku began as she opened the door.

The warm air swept her suddenly and Nanao felt the world sway beneath her. She fell backwards, a pair of strong arms catching her before she hit the ground, and the world around her went black.


	2. Advice

Shunsui paced the small room lost in thought. For the innumerable time he looked over to the bed where his Nanao-chan was lying unconscious and the anxiety fluctuated within him. It was almost dawn and she still hadn't awoken. He would never forget the look on Unohana's face when he had rushed over to 4th Squad with his Fukutaicho in his arms, her face pale and cold. The healer wasn't smiling when he had laid her on the bed, almost as if she had expected this to happen. She hadn't told him what had happened yet, or even if Nanao-chan was ever going to wake up again! Was it really serious? Was there anything he could do? More importantly was this all his fault?

Jyuushiro had warned him that Nanao had been working too hard, that he had been lazier than usual. He had argued that it was the snow, that cold weather made him want to sleep more, but now it just felt like he was making lame excuses. He looked at her again and finally sank on to the chair beside her bed.

'Hey Nanao-chan I can't sleep,' he confirmed aloud. 'Looks like you finally won. Why don't you wake up and rub it in?' She didn't move, not even an indication that his words had been heard. Shunsui decided to try again. 'I think I will go back to the office and get started on the paperwork.' Again no reaction. 'Ise-Fukutaicho, I order you to wake up.' Nanao didn't even twitch. 'You never obey my commands.'

Shunsui sighed and was about to give up when a final idea occurred. He leaned in closer and said with a smile: 'It looks like I can finally have my way with you, Nanao-chan.'

'Get away from her you perverted old man,' a voice said from behind. He turned around and met the frowning eyes of Jyuushiro.

Shunsui smiled apologetically. 'Usually my harassment gets her to do anything but I suppose it won't work this time.'

'I suppose it won't,' Jyuushiro replied as he sat down on the chair opposite, placing a large bouquet of flowers in the empty vase on the table and an even larger bouquet next to the first. 'From Kiyone and Sentarou, competing over flowers if you can believe it. How is she?'

'I don't know. Retsu-san hasn't told me anything yet, she is still running some tests.'

Jyuushiro pushed his long white hair back and shot Shunsui a complicated look. 'Well she has been a bit overtaxed lately. You don't suppose it just caught up with her at last?'

Shunsui sat back and considered. 'I suppose I have been relying on her a bit too much. She runs everything without complaining so I sort of forget to do my job quite a lot.'

'I know you spring in to help when the situation is dire but then you are too lazy otherwise. I know it's boring but we have to keep Seireitei running in peace time so that we can operate in a crisis,' Jyuushiro said sharply.

Shunsui sighed and looked at his subordinate again. 'Do you think I should try and be more like Nanao-chan?'

Jyuushiro laughed shortly. 'Shun, you could _never_ be like Nanao. But maybe you could try dedicating yourself a bit more.'

'Dedicate myself a bit more? How exactly?'

'I don't know. Try taking only five naps a day instead of six,' his friend suggested as he stood up. 'You'll think of something. Are you coming to the meeting this morning, or should I tell Yamamoto-taicho that you are staying here?'

Shunsui stood up. 'I'll go; I need to get some air anyway. Wake up soon Nanao-chan,' he said as he found his hat. 'Shall we be off?'

They passed an upset looking Matsumoto Rangiku as they left 4th Squad who was both sober and carrying the largest bottle of _sake_ any of them had ever seen. 'It's to help Nanao wake up,' she assured them with a smile as she charged passed. Shunsui smiled appreciatively, understanding the benefits a drink or two could have, but Jyuushiro couldn't help but let the disapproval show on his face.

The reached the centre of Seireitei in time to catch up with Unohana who was instructing her Fukutaicho as she walked. The young women bowed and disappeared and Shunsui looked at the 4th Squad leader expectantly.

'Tell me I didn't kill my Fukutaicho,' Shunsui pleaded as she gave him 'that look' again.

'No, I was just thinking how strange it is seeing you without Nanao a step behind,' Unohana replied as they entered Yamamoto's office. 'Out of the entire Gotei 13, you and her spend more time together than any two Shinigami I know.'

'Wow, I'd never noticed before,' Jyuushiro agreed with a sly smile on his pale features. 'Wherever the mighty Kyouraku goes, the dedicated Nanao follows. During the entire ryoka invasion I don't think she even left your side at all…I'm surprised she puts up with you, with a brain like hers she could join any squad she wanted.'

Shunsui, never truly aware when people were teasing or telling the truth, held up his hands defensively. 'Nanao-chan is just dedicated, besides we make a good team.'

'A good team…' Jyuushiro repeated with a grin as sly a fox. 'Ah! Hitsugaya-kun, we were just discussing what a great _team_ Shunsui and Nanao-san make.' The white haired man rushed ahead to where 10th Squad's young taicho was waiting and Unohana finally smiled again.

'Nanao will be alright,' she assured. 'But she will have to take it easy for a while.

Shunsui smiled with relief. 'No problem, taking it easy is my specialty after all.'

Nanao sat up in bed and picked her glasses of the bedside table. Vision returned to her and she took in her surroundings. It was a small room with a single window, one bed, two chairs and a table covered in flowers. There were vases everywhere including the floor and an enormous bottle of what she assumed was _sake_ resting against a cushion. Her large tome was safely under the bed.

It took less than a minute for Nanao to get out of bed and impatiently close the window that was allowing an annoying breeze in. She sneezed loudly and sat back down, feeling slightly dizzy. Her memory was a blur but she knew somehow that she had fainted, and that Kyouraku-taicho was the one who had caught her. His face had looked frightened as the world had faded into blackness, and was the first time she could recall seeing him look afraid.

She sat bored for a little while before picking up her book and taking out some of the paperwork she had hidden away in it. It required the use of a pen and she didn't have one handy, and there was no one to ask, so she had no choice but to sit there idly until something interesting happened.

Nanao was in the process of mentally listing all the work she would need to catch up on when she heard a bang, and found herself embraced in a swirl of pink. Instantly she recognised the musky smell of her taicho and instinctively tried to push him off. He was hanging on tighter than usual and she endured it until he realised that she was suffocating.

'You dropped your hat,' she observed as it rolled on the floor from where it had fallen off. He felt his head to confirm this and smiled warmly.

'You're awake at last! I suppose my harassment worked after all!' He declared proudly. Nanao felt the ever familiar twitch of anger knot her brow.

'Harassment?' She asked, unsure if she even wanted to know the answer.

'It's not what it sounds like,' he pleaded uselessly. 'Let's just forget I said anything. Do you feel better?'

Nanao pushed her glasses up. 'Much better. I suppose it was just the cold air getting into my lungs. I'll head over to the office as soon as-'

'-Sorry Nanao-chan but if I let you anywhere near the office Unohana-taicho will flail me,' he interrupted.

'But the reports-' she began before being cut off again.

'-Never mind the reports. I will take care of everything. Ah! If it isn't Matsumoto!

The large bosomed women entered the small room much in the same fashion as Kyouraku but this embrace was all the more suffocating. 'Nanao, I brought you some _sake!_ How about you, Kyouraku-taicho and I have a little party.'

She could see her Taicho's face light up at the prospect but another voice from the door ended his fun before it began.

'Shunsui has some work to do,' Ukitake-taicho said as he entered with two of the worlds largest bunches of flowers. 'Don't you?'

'I have some work to do,' he repeated, almost sobbing. He stood up and walked towards Ukitake. 'I will come and visit again tonight.'

Nanao stared in disbelief as the two Taicho's left. Rangiku was equally shocked but it wore of as soon as the _sake _bottle found its way into her hands.

'He was here all night you know. And he didn't even nap at all,' Rangiku declared triumphantly. 'He must really care about you.'

'I'm sure Hitsugaya-taicho would do the same for you,' Nanao argued as she accepted the cup from her friend. 'It's only natural for a taicho to be concerned about his subordinates.'

Rangiku downed the alcohol in one and edged closer to the bed. '_And_ he didn't drink _anything_ either. I suppose he was just feeling guilty.'

'Guilty?'

'Yes. He thinks it's because he was being so lazy that you were working yourself so hard and fainted in the first place.'

'That's absurd,' Nanao argued as the glasses slipped again.

'Maybe, but you have been working really hard lately. I think you need to take it easy.'

'Do you think I should try and act more like Kyouraku-taicho?' She asked sceptically.

Rangiku laughed loudly. 'Nanao, you could _never _be like Kyouraku. But maybe you should try having a bit more fun once in a while?'

'Fun? Do you mean I should go out and buy myself a haori and a hat then find a nice bench to sleep on?'

'Maybe, but you'll work yourself into an early grave if you don't lighten up a bit? Now let's drink!'

Nanao put the cup to her lips and smiled.

How could she possibly act anything like him?

AN: Thanks to everyone who reviewed the first chapter, it really helps. If anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear since I don't really have any sub plots planned. Look for chapter 3 after Xmas


	3. Go

The pain in Kyouraku's face was unbearable, Nanao was unsure if she could continue seeing him struggle like this. The sweat rolled down his brow with exertion, her heart wrenched painfully in her chest – it was all too much! She would have to do something – anything – to stop this suffering. Slowly Nanao raised her hand placed the winning pebble on the Go board.

'I believe I have this one, Kyouraku-taicho,' she confirmed as he confirmed his third defeat in a row. Usually she went easy on him when they played but two days of being in hospital had left Nanao in a foul mood, and today she had been merciless. It hadn't been a victory, it had been a massacre. Despite his loss he offered her a smile anyway.

Kyouraku had spent the entire day in the room with her after arriving early in the morning with some serious intentions. The first thing she noticed was that he looked tired and that the pile of paper in his hand had been crumpled up several times with sheer frustration. _Nanao-chan_ he had whimpered loudly _I don't understand this. I know you are still ill but can you give me a hint, just a little one?_ Of course she had ended up completing the entire thing herself, the sheer frustration of trying to explain _anything_ even remotely complicated involving Kyouraku-taicho was impossible, and he had settled into the chair by then fast asleep. He was asleep only for an hour or so but then they had eaten breakfast together whilst discussing nothing in particular, followed a few hours later by lunch – the time in between they had played their first match. Nanao grudgingly admitted to herself that she needed the company but she was always aware in the back of her mind that he was slacking off work again. He had slept again and Nanao had too only to be awoken by the sudden arrival of Ukitake-taicho, who had a devious grin on his face. Miserably Kyouraku had been dragged back to the office but within half an hour he was back for more help. The thick folio lay only half finished as they became enticed in yet another game. They ate dinner whilst they played and started their third match straight after the second. Unohana-taicho had been in once, several hours ago, and now it was pitch black outside.

'I let you win, Nanao-chan,' Kyouraku declared as he leant backwards into the chair and put his arms behind his head, eyes closed. 'I think it's time for another nap.'

'Um, taicho maybe you should go home to bed. It is very late after all, and you've only had two naps today.'

Kyouraku opened a lazy eye and met her gaze. 'You're my subordinate, Nanao-chan. It's my job to make sure no one tries to take advantage of you whilst you're here.' Her expression turned skeptical and he closed his eye to avoid it. 'Besides my house is too far away and the office is really cold because of the snow…'

'You did remember to turn the heating on?'

She was answered with his gentle snoring and sighed loudly. Suddenly feeling very tired Nanao lay down and put her glasses on the bedside cabinet. She had counted the tiles on the roof every night she had been here. It was almost impossible to fall asleep in such a quiet environment. Her room at 8th Squad Headquarters was constantly surrounded with noise coming from the rest of the squad, and at least two groups of people were drinking _sake_ at some ridiculous hour of the morning. She had grown used to it, the quiet was disturbing. But tonight, she realised as her eyes slipped closed, for some reason there was no trouble at all.

Nanao awoke suddenly, the surprised scream that would have echoed from her mouth smothered with a large hand, and instantly sensed something was wrong. She knew by his scent that the hand belonged to her taicho even though she could barely make him out in the darkness. He let his hand fall and she heard the unmistakable drawing of a sword. Nanao felt a twinge of nervousness as something evil washed over her senses. 'Taicho?' She whispered, unable to take the silence anymore.

'Do you feel that Nanao-chan?' He asked in a voice barely louder than a whisper. 'I don't recognize it.' Nanao stood up, her hand held ready to attack whatever was coming. 'Be careful.'

The words had barely left his mouth when an earsplitting roar tore the room a part. Searing flames from no where soared towards them, unavoidable, and Nanao felt herself scream with sheer terror as her entire body anticipated the attack. She was aware of an enormous pair of arms enveloping her as the flames struck and the sickening realization that the only reason she wasn't burning was because the man protecting her had taken the attack. The fire disappeared entirely but he was still holding her and she could feel the ocean of blood falling from his body on to hers. 'Kyou-raku…' Nanao began but her voice dried up. She looked up into his face, he was smiling as always.

'My…lovely…Nanao-chan,' he said painfully.

His reiatsu vanished.

Nanao couldn't move. All she was aware of was the blood running across her arms and the fact her heart had stopped beating. A dark realization dawned upon her slowly and then she was struck with a feeling of sorrow so profound that nothing in the world could describe it. Her heart thumped painfully in her chest. 'Taicho…' she whispered as everything around her was consumed by a black hole of agony.

'KYOURAKU-TAICHO!!!'

Nanao sat up in bed, her heart pounding and her eyes aflame with tears. Utterly confused she looked around wildly and saw that he was still asleep in the chair next to her bed. Slowly she inhaled and tried to calm herself. It had all been a dream, an awful nightmare.

She sat there staring at him unblinking all morning, lost in contemplation. Nanao never put much store in dreams but this one had felt so real, so utterly real that her entire body was still shaking at the memory. Why had she dreamt about him? Why had he died before her eyes? They were questions she needed the answers too.

Unohana-taicho interrupted her musings midmorning when she entered with her usual warmth. Her eyes flickered to Kyouraku still asleep in the chair and Nanao's pale face, a look of concern appearing suddenly on her mild features. Nanao pushed her glasses up stiffly and lost her interest in her taicho, or at least tried too. She couldn't help glancing at him every few seconds just to make sure he was really alright. Unohana was tactful in her prying.

'Did he drink too much last night, Nanao? Or are you concerned for another reason?' She tried with a smile as she pulled Nanao's wrist from under the covers and examined her pulse. 'Perhaps I should have him checked over?'

'I am sure he is fine, Unohana-taicho. After all he managed to get out of work again yesterday,' Nanao replied carefully.

'Ah, I see. Then perhaps there is another reason why Nanao-chan is so flustered?' Unohana teased with a sideward glance.

Nanao felt her cheeks burning. 'Unohana-taicho! It's nothing vulgar, I was just thinking that it must be uncomfortable to fall asleep whilst sitting up.' It was the worst excuse ever but Unohana dropped the subject with a knowing smile and moved her hand to Nanao's forehead.

Matsumoto entered the healing room as Unohana left and smothered Nanao with her embrace before noticing who was in the chair beside the bed. 'Kyouraku-taicho!' She acknowledged before realizing that he was fast asleep. 'Did you two spend the night together, Nanao?' She chimed in her high-pitched. 'I guess that means Ukitake-taicho was right.'

'What?' Nanao asked, seriously.

Rangiku grinned and sat down next to Nanao at the top of the bed. 'I heard it from Soi Fong-taicho at the Women's Meeting who heard Hitsugaya-taicho being told by Ukitake-taicho, that Ukitake-taicho was teasing Kyouraku-taicho at the last Taicho's meeting. 'You and Nanao-chan spend more time together than any two Shinigami in the whole of Seireitei' she said changing her voice so that it sounded like the man she was trying to impersonate. 'Hitsugaya-taicho wouldn't tell me anything more when I asked but now I've seen it first hand. You two are in _loooove!_'

'Love?' Nanao declared skeptically. 'Me? And Kyouraku-taicho? That is a joke, right? Besides we don't spend that much time together. Just at the office and in meetings. And when he drags me out for _sake_ at odd hours of the night.' She paused slightly as realization started to dawn. 'And when we go to the real world. And there's the fact we walk to work together, and execute orders together…'

Nanao had never seen a grin so wide.

'So we spent a lot of time together?' Nanao tried to justify. 'So do you and Hitsugaya-taicho! You sleep in his office, Rangiku.'

'Yes, but Hitsugaya isn't a tall, dark and handsome pillar of masculinity.'

Nanao looked at her taicho, who was blowing bubbles in his sleep and drooling all over his pink haori. 'Some pillar of masculinity!' She sighed loudly and changed the subject abruptly. 'Is there a Fukutaicho meeting today?'

'This afternoon. Are you going, Nanao_-chan_?'

Nanao ignored the blatant taunt. 'Unohana tells me I can leave today. No sense in missing anymore work. Besides it will give me time to think about how I am going to tackle the mess of work that will be littering my desk. I think today is finally the day when the rest of 8th Squad learn the meaning of hard work!'

'Aren't you meant to be taking it easy?'

'Try telling that to the pillar of masculinity,' Nanao said dubiously.

'Who's a pillar of masculinity?' A deep voice asked from the corner.

Nanao met eyes with her taicho and pushed her glasses up stiffly. 'Ukitake-taicho,' she blurted out, the first name that came into her head.

'So what does that make me then?' He continued in a serious voice, a look of mock hurt in his eyes.

'Troublesome,' Nanao confirmed with a swift nod.

'Works for me, Nanao-chan.'

Despite herself, and much to Rangiku's delight, Nanao smiled. He seemed to be fine at any rate, perhaps her earlier dream had been nothing more than that. She felt her spirit lift considerably and got out of bed, satisfied that things could finally return to some semblance of normality.

It was with a sense of elation that Nanao finally stepped foot outside of 4th Squad, after listening to Unohana's advice for a good while of course. Rangiku had sped off upon receiving an angry sounding message from her taicho leaving Nanao alone with Kyouraku. She was bitterly self conscious about the amount of looks they were receiving as they walked through the streets towards 8th Squad. He seemed oblivious and Nanao quickly decided she was being paranoid.

Kyouraku received a message about an emergency meeting when they were less than halfway there and sighed deeply. 'It seems urgent,' he said lazily and came to a complete halt. 'Where are you heading, Nanao-chan?'

'Fukutaicho meeting. I was hoping to go home first but I think I will just head right there.'

'That's all the way in 1st Squad, Unohana-taicho would kill me if you were to overexert yourself. Besides, isn't it meant to start in a few minutes?'

'What?' She asked, suddenly panicking. 'I assumed it wasn't until later on.'

'The hell butterfly I got mentioned the Fukutaicho meeting because I think Yama-jii wants to address the Fukutaichos afterwards.'

Nanao folded her arms. 'Will we make it to 1st Squad in time?'

She had time to notice a devious grin crossing his face before she found herself swept clean of the ground and into his arms. 'Hold on tight, Nanao-chan.'

'Kyouraku-taicho…' the rest of her sentence was drowned in the sudden gust of wind that engulfed them as they moved at top speed through the streets. She wrapped her arms around his neck in fear of falling off and was unable to do anything else because of the sheer speed and intensity at which they were moving. The ground melted before them and within a matter of seconds they touched down in the central plaza of 1st Division.

'That was fun, Nanao-chan,' Kyouraku decided, no indication that he had any intentions of actually letting her down. Nanao barely heard what he said, she was far too conscious of the fact that there were Taichos on one side of the courtyard and Fukutaichos on the other, all of whom were staring at them with the same wicked glint in their eyes. It seemed rumours really did spread fast these days. 'I'll give you a lift to the meeting.'

'Really taicho, I can walk,' Nanao objected as he began towards the door where Rangiku and Isane were grinning like foxes. Nanao felt her cheeks flare with embarrassment until he finally let her down. He left with a wave and she watched him catch up with Ukitake-taicho, who looked at Nanao with a wink. This was really the last straw. Without so much as stopping she charged into the meeting room and refused to acknowledge anyone until she had sat down.

'Abarai-kun will be a bit late so please everyone wait awhile,' Sasakibe declared as he sat down at the top of the long table. Nanao sighed and didn't notice Rangiku had sat down next to her until the teasing began again.

'You look tense, Nanao. Do you miss Shun-chan already?'

'There is nothing going on between us, Rangiku,' she declared a little louder than she had intended. All the conversations in the room suddenly stopped but Matsumoto was undeterred.

'Nanao and Shunsui in a tree, doing things they shouldn't be…' she began to sing until she was suddenly choked by laughter. Nanao blushed furiously and stopped as she suddenly remembered her dream again.

She turned to her friend, serious. 'Have you ever dreamed about someone dying before?'

Rangiku stopped laughing suddenly and cast her mind backwards. 'No. But just before Gin left Soul Society I had a dream about him betraying someone, although I don't think it was me. Why do you ask?'

'I had a dream last night, well, it was a nightmare. It felt so real that it took me the entire morning to convince myself it wasn't.' She hesitated for a moment. 'It was about…Kyouraku. Maybe we are just spending too much time together but I was so afraid. When Kyouraku-taicho…' Nanao couldn't bring herself to say it. 'What do you think?'

'I don't know,' Rangiku admitted. 'Maybe you are just subconsciously worried, or maybe…' she grinned again and Nanao didn't need the rest of the sentence to know what was going through her head.

'Thanks Rangiku,' Nanao said plainly.

'What are friends for, Nanao-chan?'

AN: sorry it took so long for the update. Ok, the reason I use single quotation marks for speech is because in the sunny land of UK that's what we – technically – do. Trust me, I'm an English undergrad. To stop confusion though I can use the double. As for the search, I tried to put it in to find the link but it didn't work for me either.


	4. Mistrust

Shunsui shot a surprised look at Jyuushiro, his friend's eyes as wide as his own eyes upon hearing the shocking declaration from Yama-jii. An invader had penetrated Seireitei last night, someone not a single person had detected. Like a shadow they had whispered past the security of the great wall and the surrounding squads, sneaking until they reached 1st Squad's HQ. Still invisible they had reached the very core of the city and the great vaults that were housed there. Several guards were dead before they realised they were under attack. Only one item had been stolen – a forbidden item – a great scroll of forbidden Demon Arts protected by a binding spell so strong that it could not be destroyed.

However as dire as this theft was, Shunsui looked at Jyuushiro for another reason. It had happened many years ago, before the scroll had become forbidden, when they were both bored students at the Academy. Yamamoto had never found out what they had done, both of them would have been exiled if he had, although they only realised this later. Knowing the shrewd old man as they did he would probably exile them even now if their activities from those days came to light. Shunsui folded his arms and felt his heart pounding in his chest as he tried to pay attention.

'Could it have been a betrayal from within the city?' Komamura asked gravely. The whole issue with Aizen Sosuke still burned fresh in everyone's mind and the idea of another traitor within the Shinigami ranks was not a farfetched one.

Yamamoto sat up a little straighter and Shunsui watched his wizened eyes switch between Jyuushiro and himself. Yama-jii had not looked at either of them the same since they had fought him during the attempted execution of Kuchiki Rukia. In spite of them only acting in the interest of justice and Yamamoto simply defending his own strict ethos of following the rules no matter what, their relationship had been fractured irrevocably it appeared. The old man felt betrayed, it was as simple as that. 'We cannot rule that possibility out although the evidence suggests an invader. What is important is finding out the identity of the thief and defending ourselves against another attack. We will hold a second meeting later on this afternoon with our Fukutaicho, so we can discuss our tactics. I will send a hell butterfly to each of you but please stick close by as it should not take too long. Thank you.'

Everyone began to walk away silently. Shunsui waited for Jyuushiro to catch up and they waited until they were outside before exchanging tense looks. 'We can't talk about it here,' Jyuushiro said quietly confirming his friends exact thoughts. 'We can't even let it look like it is has anything even remotely related to us.'

'Well the robbery doesn't so that is not so hard, it's just of all the items the thief had to take it had to be that one. If Yama-jii finds out what we did…'

'He's been looking for an excuse ever since we fought him, Shunsui. He won't show us any mercy if even a whisper of our involvement reaches his ears. We have to find the scroll before he does no matter what.'

'I agree but now is not the time to discuss that. Let's just sit down somewhere and wait for Nanao-chan.

Jyuushiro looked at his friend purposefully. 'You know you can't involve her in this? Nanao would follow you to the ends of the earth and it wouldn't be fair.'

Shunsui sighed. 'I know. But I hate lying to her and she always knows when I am as well. I will not tell her, Jyuu, but if she finds out then I will not deny it.'

They sat down on one of the stone benches that encircled the central plaza and said nothing, both lost to their thoughts. Nanao managed to sneak up on them and she stood there with her arms crossed and her brow creased until Shunsui suddenly decided to wake up again. He smiled at her but he couldn't find the will to put much effort behind it. He saw the concern flicker across his fukutaicho's face and decided to say something before she did.

'Was your meeting as much fun as mine then?'

Nanao pushed her glasses up, as she always did when he asked her a question. 'I think they were pretty much the same, except-'

Shunsui sat up properly as soon as he saw the concern in her eyes increase even more. 'What is it, Nanao-chan?'

'I suppose you can call it the reason why our meetings weren't held together in the first place.' She looked around suspiciously, assessing no doubt the risk involved in telling them this piece of information. 'Yamamoto-taicho ordered the Fukutaicho to spy on their captains.'

'What?' Jyuushiro and Shunsui declared at the same time, loud enough to attract a few nosy heads.

'What do you mean you like Jyuushiro more than me, Nanao-chan? Is it because he brought you flowers because I can throw petals over you if you want!' Shunsui invented loudly and the heads turned back. He lowered his voice to a whisper. 'Is this because of the robbery?'

'I don't know but I refuse to do it, and I am not the only one.' Shunsui looked around, Matsumoto was whispering to Hitsugaya-kun in the same manner as they were, as were Abarai and Kuchiki-taicho. He turned back gravely, what was the old man thinking? 'I did not refuse the order outright, but even if personal relationships were not involved the whole idea of spying is wrong both morally and ethically. It will tear Seireitei in two.'

'Ukitake-taicho!' Two voices shouted suddenly as Kiyone and Sentarou ripped from the meeting hall at top speed. 'We have something to tell you.'

Jyuushiro held up his hand to quiet them. 'One at a time, what is this about?'

'Sasakibe told us to spy on you, by order of Yamamoto-taicho,' Kiyone whispered with a frightened look in her eyes. 'He told us not to say anything but how could we not?'

'It's the truth, taicho. You don't think Yamamoto-taicho thinks we've been betrayed from the inside again?' Sentarou pressed as he looked between Jyuushiro and Shunsui.

Jyuushiro shook his head in mild disbelief. 'Perhaps, but spying is a little too underhanded. This isn't like the old man; he has another motive no doubt. Maybe he is testing our loyalty, and the loyalty of our subordinates.' A pregnant pause fell across the group. 'We must be careful. I do not agree with this tactic but you two must follow Yamamoto's orders. And Nanao-'

'-I refuse to spy on _anyone_, least of all Kyouraku-taicho,' she interrupted firmly.

Shunsui put his hand on her shoulder. 'It's alright, Nanao-chan. We just need to go along with this until we find out what Yamamoto is up to. By telling us this information we may have played directly into his hands. Now is not the time to discuss this either. My apologies Nanao-chan but this is one order neither of us can afford to ignore, just tell him what a lazy and irresponsible man I am and he won't suspect anything is wrong.'

She managed a weak smile but the heavy look did not leave her face. Shunsui cast his eyes to the enormous building behind him. Just what was going on?

Nanao followed behind Kyouraku with a frown that was far deeper than the one she normally wore. An unnatural hush had fallen over everyone and there was a tension in there created by the distrust of certain Fukutaicho towards the taicho they had been asked to spy on, and that of certain taicho who were aware and distrusted Yamamoto. She cast her eyes to where the old man was sitting clutching his staff and met his gaze steadily. She could feel the anger burning in her own eyes despite her efforts to disguise it. The old man frowned at her and she broke the stare, her mood darkening.

'You should try and calm down before that dark reiatsu you are resonating destroys something,' Kyouraku said in an undertone. 'It's a bit extreme, even for you Nanao-chan.'

She felt her anger dissipate a little at his joke. 'I will conserve my anger for when we get back to the office, taicho.'

'That's the spirit. No, wait…' he began as she charged in front of him until he caught up and they stopped somewhere near the bottom of the line of people.

The room fell silent as the heavy doors closed and Nanao suddenly felt very detached. She was aware of being in the room, being surrounded by people, Yamamoto talking about something vaguely important and Kyouraku-taicho standing closer to her than he usually did, a deeply troubled look in his eyes, but somehow it all felt so distant. She folded her arms and tried to concentrate but long minutes of no success finally forced her to give up. Nausea was starting to make the room spin.

A hand grabbed her forcefully by the arm to stop her falling over. 'Are you alright, Nanao-chan?' Kyouraku asked forcing his large palm onto her forehead. 'You look ill again.'

She pushed his hand away with as much strength as she could muster, which managed only to confirm the sudden lack of energy that had possessed her. 'It's nothing, taicho.'

'Nanao-chan maybe you should-' he began before being cut off by Yamamoto.

The old man was angry. 'Kyouraku Shunsui! Ise Nanao! Perhaps at 8th Squad the well being of Seireitei is at the bottom of the priority list, but it is rather important to everyone else! Stop chatting and pay attention to what I am telling you!'

Nanao waited for the lazy apologetic smile from her taicho but it never happened. He shot a poisonous glance at Yamamoto – a look that shocked her to the core – and a terrible hurt crossed his face, a look that was unbearable. Nanao felt her aura darken, not at Yamamoto's comments but at Kyouraku-taichos's face. She was beyond angry and it was her intention to storm out of the building in protest but he still had a strong grip on her arm. His hands were shaking.

The hour that followed was the most trying experience she had ever had. Nanao could only imagine what everyone was thinking every time they looked at the usually carefree Kyouraku-taicho staring intently at the ground with his head down and his eyes shaded, his Fukutaicho not even trying to mask the enormous aura of cold fury that had enveloped her. She never took her cold eyes off Yamamoto for a second and the old man certainly looked over at them often enough. It was with profound relief that he finally declared the meeting over. Kyouraku didn't even wait for Ukitake-taicho as he charged from the meeting hall. Nanao kept pace with him and they were almost at the door when she heard a voice from behind.

'Ise Nanao,' Yamamoto said loudly and all eyes turned to her. 'Stay a moment, I have something to discuss with you.'

Instinctively she looked at Kyouraku; there was anger in his eyes. 'I will meet you at the office, taicho. You look like you need to lie down.'

Kyouraku said nothing, nodded once, and disappeared with a flash step. Nanao suddenly felt very alone.

She suppressed the nervous twinge that threatened to overtake her, masking it with the cold aura this meeting had left her with. No one met her eye as she walked back into the room, all except Ukitake-taicho who looked as pale as his white hair. He coughed harshly and his two Third-seats were at his side immediately. Their offer of support was refused and despite the fact he clearly needed it, the taicho walked away with his head high. The doors slammed closed on a second coughing fit, leaving Nanao highly concerned for his health and ill prepared for the upcoming conversation with Yamamoto-taicho.

The old man looked at her from his seat, his wrinkled brow far more furrowed than she had ever seen it. Reiatsu was spilling from him carelessly and washing over her with so much ferocity that it took everything she had to remain defiant. Anger kept her on her feet.

'We have a problem, Ise Nanao. Do you know what our problem is?' He asked lightly. Nanao took it for a rhetorical question and waited for him to continue. 'Our problem is loyalty: your loyalty.'

Nanao was hit with a fresh wave of anger. 'My loyalty?'

'Do you want what is best for the Shinigami?'

'Of course-'

'Do you want what is best for Soul Society?'

'Of course-'

'So where do your loyalties lie?'

'I am loyal to Seireitei!' She shouted, losing herself to her anger at last.

'You are loyal to Kyouraku Shunsui!'

For some reason this statement hit her hard, and her defiance was knocked out of her body. Yamamoto's reiatsu suddenly felt so much stronger, she felt her legs begin to weaken as the energy was pulled out of her entire being. Quickly she sank to one knee but decided to sink no further. With the rest of her energy, tears stinging her eyes as she looked into his ancient face, Nanao struggled to find the words she knew she had to say. 'I am,' she said simply, and felt her body hit the floor.

Yamamoto said nothing but she could feel his hard stare boring into her back. Nanao concentrated all of her willpower into staying conscious; she refused to pass out in front of him even if it meant she did so outside. It took an eternity but eventually the crushing reiatsu of Seireitei's most powerful captain finally subsided. Nanao felt like every one of her organs had imploded.

She couldn't move.

A strong hand grabbed her by the arm and pulled her upright, dragging her along the hall towards the door at a great speed.

'You have my orders Ise-_fukutaicho_, I suggest you follow them. Tell me what Shunsui and Jyuushiro are up to or I _will_ assume you are their accomplice, am I understood?'

Nanao looked at the angry old face, stunned. _What they were up to?_ As far as she was concerned they weren't up to anything? Was this entire ridiculous mission just an excuse for the old man to spy on his two must trusted subordinates? Had Yamamoto already condemned them, did he just need an excuse to be rid of them once and for all? She had noticed things between them had been strained lately but surely things weren't that bad!

The reached the door and Nanao felt herself being pushed outside. She would have fallen into the snow had someone not caught her; some how she recognised it wasn't Kyouraku-taicho.

'Ukitake-taicho,' she said weakly she caught sight of his face, pale as it always one but angrier than she had ever seen. There was blood on his chin and in the snow from where he had coughed it up. His two third seats looked concerned beyond belief that their ill commander was being made even more so. Yamamoto-taicho slammed the door without a word.

'Are you alright Nanao?' He asked as he wiped the blood from his face with the sleeve of his haori.

Nanao felt queasy and, looking at Ukitake, she knew what was coming. 'My apologies, Ukitake-taicho,' she said weakly as she found her own two feet only to have them swept from under her as she fell to her knees. The blood flew from her mouth in a spray of crimson, trailing down her face in a steady river she could not stop. She felt a strong hand on her shoulder, lifting her into a strong pair of arms.

'Taicho you shouldn't! Let me,' – Sentarou began only to be cut off by a stern look.

'I can manage. Let's get her to 4th Squad safely.'

Nanao looked up at him, his face swam dizzily. 'No. Take me to 8th Squad; I need to talk to Kyouraku-taicho. I need to…make sure…he's…alright.'

AN: sorry it took longer than expected! Again thanks for the reviews, keep em coming and tell ur friends!! I know this is quite a serious chapter but things do get fun again pretty soon so never fear! Still open to suggestions!


	5. Overhang

Kyouraku wasn't at the office when Nanao returned that evening from Fourth Squad, not that she expected him to be. Ukitake had ignored her request and delivered her straight into the capable hands of Unohana-taicho who, as always, had taken care of her injuries. She had been told to stay at the healing house overnight but Nanao had spent quite enough time lying in bed for one life time and there were more important things that required her attention.

To her surprise the office wasn't as cold and empty as she had expected it to be. There were several members of her squad present, though she heard them before she saw them. Cautiously she approached the half open door, speculating who besides herself and Kyouraku-taicho would have business in 8th Squad's main office. Her first guess was that it was spies of Yamamoto searching for evidence of the supposed illegal activities of her captain. Initially deciding upon a tactful approach, Nanao quickly decided that she had the right to walk into her own office without having to sneak around like a thief.

Tensing herself Nanao pushed the door open and was met with the most shocking sight she had ever witnessed.

The office was actually _clean._ She immediately recognised the members of the squad as they all stopped and stared at her, surprised that she had returned no doubt.

'Fukutaicho!' They all declared together. One stepped forward, an unseated member Nanao admittedly didn't know the name of. 'We didn't expect you or the Taicho back until tomorrow. He told us to clean the office or he would make us face him in a _sake_ drinking contest. None of us are that strong, Ise-fukutaicho.'

'No one in Seireitei is that strong,' she replied, _except maybe Rangiku-san_ but this thought was kept to herself. 'Thanks for your hard work. Where is Kyouraku-taicho?'

The man shook his head, a slightly pained look in his eyes. 'We heard from some of the 11th Squad guys what happened today at the central plaza. The taicho came by briefly just after the meeting but left soon afterwards. However…'

Nanao frowned, knowing already the reason for his brief visit. 'How much did he find?'

'There were at least five bottles, including the strong stuff we hid in the one place we thought he would _never _look – the tax record cabinet. Is it possible Kyouraku-taicho can sense the reiatsu of _sake_?'

'Perhaps,' she agreed absently as a sinking feeling appeared in her stomach. The only thing worse than Kyouraku drunk was Kyouraku drunk when he was upset about something. 'Hopefully he will come back soon but until then I am going to get a head start on that pile of paperwork on my desk. Just pretend I'm not here and continue what you were doing.'

Yes, Ise-fukutaicho!' They declared energetically and returned to their noisy business. Nanao sat down, appreciating the noise after spending so long in the silence of the healing squad and pulled out the folio that was covered in urgent looking red ink and began scouring the characters with her eyes. She looked at the door after about a minute, and did so every minute thereafter regardless of how hard she tried not too. The men all fell silent every time her head turned in that direction and picked up their conversation again as soon as she returned to work. They continued in this cycle for about half an hour.

Eventually she closed the giant book she was consulting and slammed it on the desk, hard. Everyone jumped at the sudden loud noise. _Making me worry about you again, you irresponsible man!_ She pushed her glasses up calmly. 'I am going to search for Kyouraku-taicho.'

Nanao walked through the dark corridor of the main building and out of the wooden doors. She acknowledged the two guards that bowed low to her with a casual nod of the head and stepped into the main garden. For a snowy night it was remarkably warm even though there wasn't a cloud in the sky to keep the cold away. Sighing to herself Nanao allowed her eyes to slip closed and reached out to find the reiatsu of her missing Taicho. Her senses were still rather muddled due to Unohana's healing techniques but tonight she did not allow this to impede her. Calmly she reached out with her spirit, felt it pass over a thousand people until it finally settled on the distinctive aura she was looking for. It was quite a distance away, almost out with her ability to sense, somewhere near the walls.

She used _shunpo_ most of the way because she was too impatient to walk when something was concerning her and it was a good test of her weakened power. More than a few Shinigami started as she sped by them, surprised at her sudden approach. Nanao had her mind on one thing however and had no time to respond to the various voices that called her as she passed. Someone tried to keep pace with her at some point in order to discuss something trivial, an administrative member of tenth squad who was trying vainly to enlist her aid in something that no doubted required her ability to handle difficult paper work, but the conversation lasted less than ten seconds before Nanao totally out paced her unwanted companion. The woman fell back, panting hard, and was forgotten.

The streets grew quieter as she moved further from the centre and the reiatsu grew stronger. She stopped at the bottom of a snowy hill, casting her eyes to the solitary leafless tree at its summit. Her senses told her that is where her taicho would be. She began to walk slowly, suddenly feeling very nervous. Angrily she tried to shake it off but the feeling would not dissipate. The sensation was starting to annoy her.

She reached the top without realising it, concentrating more on her own disobedient feelings than her surroundings. The pink haori caught her eye immediately. Kyouraku was sitting alone beneath the tree in a large circle of grass, staring totally in the other direction.

'Taicho?' She said apprehensively, debating whether or not it was a good idea to interrupt whatever he was musing about. She had never sensed him so serious before, something must have been really wrong. 'Kyouraku-taicho?'

He looked round at her, his face sombre. She took a step forward and he smiled dopily as the familiar flush returned to his cheeks – the smell of _sake_ hit her nose. He was drunk, _completely and utterly drunk! _Three of the bottles lay discarded in the snow and a fourth was clutched in his hand, the fifth rested against the tree.

'Taicho you'll catch a cold if you stay up here,' Nanao informed him, rather timidly for some reason. 'Maybe we should get you back to the office so you can sleep it off? There is a Taicho meeting in the morning-'

'-Nanao-chan, I don't wanna go the office. There is paper there, and work, and more evil things that Jyuushiro-chan makes me do. I want more _sake_,' he cried as he brought the bottle to his lips and swallowed about half of it. 'You wanna stay Nanao-chan?'

Nanao pushed her glasses up stiffly. 'Well I can't leave you alone when you are liable to drink yourself into a coma, taicho. Are you going to finish this soon?'

'Nope. So get comfortable, my lovely Nanao-chan,' he smiled and patted the patch of grass next to him. She sighed to herself and sat down next to Kyouraku as he drank more alcohol.

A pregnant pause fell between them.

'I am sorry I couldn't protect you Nanao-chan,' he said suddenly. 'You became ill because of me, and, I'm sorry I couldn't protect you from Yama-jii.'

She looked at him purposefully. 'Neither of those things were your fault Kyouraku-taicho. I don't blame you at all so just forget about it.'

There was another pause as he drank some more and offered the bottle to his fukutaicho. After the day she'd had, she accepted it without a second thought. 'If Nanao says so then I will but I won't let it happen again. It's a promise. Hey Nanao-chan, do I drink too much?'

'Yes,' she replied instantly, passing the bottle back as she did, although it brought a smile to her lips. 'But you do get cranky if you're sober for too long, and it's easier for me to take advantage of you when you are drunk.'

He looked at her with a wink. 'Was that a confession of love Nanao-chan?' He practically fell onto her as he swallowed her small frame in a giant drunken hug. 'What would I do without my lovely beautiful Nanao?'

She felt her cheeks flare. Desperately she tried to push him off but when it didn't work, she grabbed the _sake_ bottle and poured as much as she could swallow into her mouth. Somehow it did nothing to calm the flutter in her stomach. He relented in order to steal the bottle back.

'You finished it,' he observed as he tossed it into the empty pile and reached for the final bottle. 'That only leaves the extra strong stuff you hid in the tax forms.' He took a small swig and if possible his cheeks went even redder. 'Wow that's _good!'_

Nanao, who was already beginning to feel the effects of her first taste, accepted the bottle almost unthinkingly. The taste was overwhelming but she allowed it too fall down her throat anyway. If possible Nanao thought she was drunk already. 'How can you drink this every day?'

'It helps me sleep and I like sleeping more than anything,' he declared bashfully. 'More importantly, is it really a good idea for us to both to get drunk?'

'Are you volunteering to sober up?' She asked as she swallowed more of the searing liquid. 'At this rate you might miss your meeting.'

'That's even more reason to get drunk! Besides, I want to see Nanao-chan drunk.'

She spilled _sake _onthe ground as she pointed at him with the bottle still in her hand. 'I don't get drunk, it's irresponsible.'

'Liar,' he smiled and snatched the bottle back. 'I give you five minutes.'

Nanao had one arm around his neck and he had one arm wrapped around her shoulder as vainly they tried to support each other through the streets of Seireitei. Nanao had no idea why she was drunk or why they were on their way back to HQ or why Kyouraku-taicho was laughing at whatever she had just said, which, incedently she couldn't remember. It had been years since she had last been drunk, and for good reason as well. She never truly felt comfortable but tonight seemed to be the exception – even though her mind was clouded, somewhere she knew that this was the safest place she could ever be.

'Hey, Nanao-chan where are we?' He asked dimly as they rounded an unfamiliar corner and hit a dead end. 'Are we going back to the office?'

'If we can find it,' she replied earnestly and refused the offer of more alcohol. 'I can't drink anymore, Taicho.'

Kyouraku smiled and suddenly used _shunpo_ several times without so much as a warning. 'Are we closer yet?'

She looked around dizzily and recognised that, miraculously, they were on the border between 7th and 8th squad. 'A little more in that direction,' she indicated and held on tighter as he sped forward again. They went past the gate to the main office and then doubled back. The wooden gates were closed tight so he pulled her over it in a single swift moment and together they landed in the garden. It began to snow heavily.

Kyouraku brought the bottle to his lips as they walked up the path but Nanao snatched it away before he got it close enough to swallow. 'You've had too much, Taicho,' she joked as she watched him flounder after the bottle. 'There's a meeting in the morning after all.'

'You can't tell me that when you're just as drunk as I am, Nanao-chan,' he pleaded as he inadvertently knocked them both to the ground. She landed on top of him, managing somehow to keep the bottle from spilling. Her advantage didn't last long however and he quickly flipped her underneath. The _sake_ went flying into the distance and she was left in a fit of laughter she could not control. Slowly it subsided but she was trapped under the considerable weight of the much larger man.

She looked up at him, his eyes were remarkably bright, and somehow forgot what she was about to say. Her cheeks began to burn. 'Taicho I -' she began but lost her voice as his lips were suddenly pressed against hers.

Her body wouldn't move. All Nanao was aware of was the warmth of his kiss and the indescribable feeling that made her feel like every part of her was on fire. Gently he broke away, smiling lazily like he always did.

'What would I do without you, my lovely Nanao-chan?' He asked quietly as he pulled her to her feet.

'Kyouraku-taicho,' she said feeling wholly light headed as they entered the office. The fire was smouldering in the hearth and the office was inexplicitly warm for a snowy night. She wished he would let go of her hand, she didn't think she could stand it any longer. 'You should go to bed.'

He sat down on the large sofa and pulled Nanao down next to him, wrapping a large drunken arm around her shoulder and pulled her into his chest. She looked up at him, his eyes were closed and he was snoring gently.

Whether it was the alcohol or something else, Nanao could not find the strength to get up.

Smiling contently Nanao felt her eyes slip shut as his warmth and the alcohol lulled her into dreamless slumber.

AN: wow, I had a lot of trouble with this chapter! But here it is and I hope u enjoy it. Big thanks to Fruitcake who really helped me on this one, and of course, everyone else who answered my post on LJ! See you on chapter 6 (think what'll happen when they wake up ).


	6. Hangover

Shunsui nestled his back into the soft surface and tried to fall back asleep. It didn't happen very often, his body had built up something of a resistance to the effects of alcohol after all these years, but today he knew that he would have a murderous hangover. The headache was boiling beneath the surface but he was still close enough to slumber to ignore it yet. But there was something else that was keeping awake, though it took a few minutes to register in his mind.

There were voices talking rather loudly all around but it was not this that woke him up. There was an almighty flash that seared his eyes even though they were closed and Shunsui awoke to a camera lens being pulled away from his face. He looked at the owner, one Matsumoto Rangiku who was grinning wider than anything she had ever done before.

'I can understand you want a picture of me, Rangiku-chan, but why are you taking pictures of me asleep?' He asked rationally though his throat grated with dehydration.

She held the camera up with a grin. 'I'm under direct orders from Ukitake-taicho,' Matsumoto explained indicating the white haired man standing next to her with a nod of the head. He coughed and tried to disguise his smile.

'I'm confused,' he admitted as his head began to pound miserably. He became aware of something leaning against his shoulder heavily. 'Nanao-chan?' He said absently, before realizing fully that his fukutaicho was asleep on top of him. 'Nanao-chan!'

The black haired women startled at the sound of her name and opened her blue eyes to another flash. 'What are you up to Matsumoto?' She asked, annoyed. 'And why does my head feel like it's been hit by a hollow?'

'It's the overwhelming sensation of love,' Rangiku declared with a high pitched squeal. 'Or the private _sake_ party you and Kyouraku-taicho had last night.'

'Kyouraku-taicho?' She repeated as the memories of last night, blurred as they may have been, started to return to her.

'Morning my lovely Nanao-chan!' Shunsui smiled and she looked up at him, realizing only now who she was lying on, and watched her spring off the sofa like it was suddenly on fire. Her face flared with embarrassment. 'I hope your head doesn't hurt as bad as mine, what with you jumping about so early in the morning.'

'Taicho,' Nanao said bringing her hand to her head. She turned remarkably pale and sat down rather suddenly. 'What is this awful sensation?'

Ukitake-taicho folded his arms with amusement. 'It is called a hangover, Nanao. I won't ask how Shunsui managed to get you _that_ drunk but it's not without its consequences.'

Shunsui looked up at his friend, sensing a duality in his choice of words and tried to remember last night with considerable effort. There was the hill, walking home, the sofa and something significant in between that he could not recall. Thoughtfully he looked at Nanao-san, who had suddenly gone incredibly quiet, and the memory hit him like a ton of bricks. He had _kissed_ Nanao-chan, actually went ahead and kissed her! Since they had met he had teased her but never before had he even dreamed of taking it a step further than that. He didn't _really _love her, did he? Shunsui felt his cheeks burning unbearably. 'So Ukitake why are you in my office so early in the morning?'

Jyuushiro raised an eyebrow but did not question the sudden change in subject. 'Actually Shunsui it's rather late in the morning, I came to see why you hadn't showed up at our usual meeting place.'

The shock had started to alleviate a little and the full effects of the headache began to have their way with him. He closed his eyes and pulled Nanao back into his embrace. 'Tell old man Yama me and Nanao ate some bad fish or something. I don't think I can get up,' he invented as he settled back down to sleep.

'Taicho I can't breathe,' Nanao informed but was promptly ignored in favour of Jyuushiro's lecture.

'Being hungover does not constitute illness, you are coming whether you want to or not,' Ukitake argued forcibly. Nanao mumbled something that he didn't quite catch. 'You too Nanao, weren't you saying yesterday that you wanted to get back to work?' There was a brief pause. 'I didn't want to do this but you have left me no choice. Matsumoto, Kiyone, if you would.'

'Come on Nanao-chan,' Rangiku said bashfully. Shunsui opened an eye in time to watch his subordinate being half dragged from the office by the two women.

Jyuushiro grabbed him around the arm and pulled him upright with the help of Sentarou. Shunsui found walking difficult because it made him want to be sick with every step. The corridors of 8th Squad were pretty deserted considering the time of day so they encountered very few people on their way to the separate bath house that was located behind the main office. The fresh air made him fall over entirely, taking both supporters with him into the fresh white snow. It was so soft, _just like Nanao-chan,_ he mused and closed his eyes as sleep tried to claim him again. Ukitake pulled him back forcefully and together they entered the small wooden building.

The sudden blast of steam made him fall over again but Jyuushiro was prepared this time and managed to safely sit him on the wooden floor before any serious injury was caused. Shunsui yawned loudly and watched his friend fuss over the heat of the water.

'It won't scald you at the very least. Come on, get in,' Jyuushiro demanded as he grabbed Shunsui and began to pull him out of his haori. 'You really are useless when you have a hang over,' he sighed. He pulled the rest of his clothes off somehow and managed to dump him in the hot water, causing a small tidal wave to cascade off both Sentarou and Jyuushiro.

'Whoops,' Shunsui said dimly and tried to close his eyes again. It was not to be. Ukitake started to attack him with a bar of soap that he could not find the will to escape from. Shunsui endured it as best he could.

Can you go to his room and find some spare clothes, Sentarou?'

Shunsui closed his eyes again and next thing he knew he was being thrust arm and leg into his black robes. He managed somehow to put the haori on himself but balancing the pink one on his shoulders proved a harder task than ever. Ukitake pushed him back into the garden and up to the main building where Nanao-chan and the others were waiting. She looked as awful as he felt.

'What a lovely pair they make,' Matsumoto said, grinning. 'No one will _ever_ suspect what they were up to last night.'

'What are you insinuating, Rangiku?' Nanao asked darkly.

'Nothing,' she chimed. 'Shall we be off then? We have a Ball meeting this morning, the last one fell a part without Nanao-chan. Good luck with your meeting, bye bye.'

Three women tore from the room followed closely, although with far less enthusiasm, by Sentarou. Shunsui looked at his friend with a lazy smile and slowly they began towards the overbearing building that was 1st Squad HQ. He could sense that his friend was holding something from him by the silence that had fallen between them. Jyuushiro failed to meet his eyes. Eventually Shunsui stopped.

'What is it Jyuushiro?'

Ukitake drew to a halt. 'Are you alright, Shunsui?'

Shunsui smiled. 'I got to spend the night with Nanao-chan, and although my head hurts-'

'- I meant about Yamamoto-sensei. I tried to go after you yesterday but I became ill suddenly. We've been friends for too long, I know when you are upset.'

Shunsui sighed darkly. 'I can put up with the old man alright, but what he did to Nanao is unforgivable. I know it will only make things worse for both of us if I try and do something about it, but how can I live with myself knowing that he hurt her like that?'

'He is trying to provoke you into doing something. I don't know what he has in his head, but he is determined to punish you and me for defying him. And the easiest way to you is through Nanao. He is willing to drag her down with us, after all she did follow you to the battle.'

'Maybe I should distance myself from her,' he suggested half-heartedly.

Ukitake shook his head. 'Quite the contrary, keep her closer than ever and protect her as best you can.' He sighed deeply and they began to walk again. He changed the subject when the dark silence between them became unbearable. 'So did anything happen last night then?'

'You are a bigger gossip than Rangiku-chan. I was getting drunk and Nanao came to find me, like she always does, although this time she took the _sake_ instead of throwing it in the lake. It took surprisingly little to get her drunk.'

'And…'

Shunsui felt the blood rushing to his cheeks. 'I kissed her,' he said in a voice barely loud enough to hear. 'I never thought I would, I didn't even think I actually thought about her that way. But I suppose we are together so much, I never noticed it before.'

'Noticed what?'

He couldn't admit it to himself, it was impossible. 'That she is such a lightweight,' he invented lamely, earning a disapproving frown from his friend. Jyuushiro didn't push the matter.

'It's going to snow again,' he observed mildly. 'And we are going to be late at this rate.'

'Let him wait,' Shunsui replied bitterly. 'I don't have the strength to _shunpo, _besides we have problems of our own to discuss. We may as well do it whilst my head already hurts.'

'Fine. Now what are we going to do about this scroll?'

Nanao could barely walk, let alone keep up with Matsumoto and Kiyone who were pulling her along with tremendous enthusiasm. They were almost at the meeting hall and she had endured their teasing thus far without having responded. Her mind, usually sharp, was as dull as a rock.

'So Nanao-chan, are the rumours true then?' Matsumoto asked her with a sly grin.

'Rumours?' She questioned, unsure if she wanted to know what these rumours entailed.

'That Kyouraku-taicho is hung like a-'

'-Rangiku!' She interrupted before this sentence was taken any further. 'Please don't talk so disrespectivley of my taicho-'

'- I heard his sword isn't the only thing he can go bankai with-'

'-Kiyone! Honestly, this is getting ridiculous. _Nothing_ happened between us last night so please stop with this endless teasing!'

Rangiku stared at her blankly for a few seconds but her face soon broke into a devious grin. 'What are you hiding Nanao? I don't believe nothing happened. You've really been close to Kyouraku-taicho lately, didn't you take advantage of his drunkenness?'

'It isn't like that!' Nanao sighed hopelessly but Matsumoto was right. While she hadn't taken advantage of his drunkenness, she hadn't broken away when he had kissed her. Last night was a blur but she remembered the kiss vividly, she could still feel it on her lips. _Why had she let it happen?_ _Why hadn't she kicked him off like she had many times before? Maybe because he had never actually tried to kiss her before; maybe she _wanted_ him to kiss her?_ Nanao shook these thoughts from her head.

'He kissed you, didn't he?' Matsumoto declared suddenly, as if reading her thoughts. The flare of Nanao's cheeks gave the answer her voice could not find. 'And you liked it, didn't you?'

Nanao could not look her friend in the face and suddenly found the strength to charge on ahead, deaf to the taunts that were following her. She charged past Abarai Renji and Kira, almost knocking them out the window as she did, and stopped only when she was sitting down at her usual place around the meeting table. The room went quiet as she entered and Nanao could feel that her cheeks were on fire.

'You can't escape me that easily, Nanao-chan!' A voice shrieked from behind causing her head to pound awfully. Matsumoto sat down next to her, wrapping a long arm around her shoulder. She thumped some pictures on the table in front. 'What a cute couple you two make!'

Nanao looked at the photographs with sheer horror and promptly singed them with a blast of kidou. Matsumoto was unphased.

'Those were just copies, I still have the originals. Half of Seireitei has a bet that you and Kyouraku-taicho are going to get it on eventually – if it's in the next three days I'm gonna be a whole lot richer!'

Nanao buried her head in her arms and tried to make herself disappear entirely. She didn't have the energy for this, her head was far too sore. Rangiku was only teasing like she always did but now that something had actually happened between her and Kyouraku-taicho it was having a far more profound effect. 'Can we please start this meeting today?' She said bitterly as everyone poured over the photographs that her friend was proudly showing off. 'Isn't this Ball in less than two weeks?'

'Nanao-san is right,' Kiyone agreed. 'Besides, there will be plenty of opportunity to talk about this _after _the meeting.'

Nanao buried her head further – this was going to be a long day.

Kyouraku sat at his desk staring at the empty chair at the opposite side of the room. As always he was ignoring the mountain of paperwork that had spilled from his desk onto the floor in favour of staring at his fukutaicho's vacant desk; he wanted Nanao to come back safe. She had been away for a while at 1st squad reporting everything that she had managed to spy the past few days. Things between them had been awkward to say the least; he hadn't teased her at all since it had happened. Jyuushiro had picked up on this quickly and he cursed his friend's sharp mind. The office had been unusually subdued, Shunsui found he could not even fall asleep in the heavy silence. But more than his troubles with Nanao were his increasing problems with Yamamoto.

On the advice of Ukitake they had attended every meeting, done their jobs as captains, done nothing in response to the increasing anger aimed towards them but yet the situation seemed to be getting worse. He was making himself ill thinking about it all the time but there was _nothing _he could think of that would cure the old man's grievances. In truth he did not even know what he had done to anger him so much. There was, of course, the ryoka invasion but he had seemed to accept their rebellion after all had been made clear. Was this the product of suppressed anger, or was he merely trying to find a scapegoat for the crisis that was affecting Soul Society currently?

Shunsui sighed loudly and tried to concentrate on the work before him.

Nanao arrived within a few minutes of his return to work, failing to hide the surprise of him actually working from her face.

'Don't worry,' he assured with a wink. 'I was daydreaming until about a minute ago. How was it?'

'Disgusting,' she replied sourly as she took her seat. 'Fukutaicho after fukutaicho reporting the activities of their superiors, despite an obvious lack of any evidence pointing towards any of them. Poor Kiyone could barely talk, and she wasn't the only one upset about it. I've said it before but this is tearing Seireitei a part.'

Shunsui listened sombrely and nodded. 'I can't get through to him, Nanao. I've tried but he's losing the thread of patience he has with me.' He stood up slowly and walked over to her desk purposefully. 'I hoped it would never come to this but you have to prepare yourself for the worst. Yamamoto's actions have become erratic, but he is still grand commander. I won't give you any orders, Nanao-chan. If it comes to it, please do what you think is best.'

Nanao looked up at him, her eyes bright. 'What are you saying, Taicho?'

Kyouraku held her gaze. 'I'm saying from here on out we can't be certain of anything. I'm saying, when it comes down to it, I'm no match for the old man.'

Her eyebrows furrowed. 'You're hiding something from me.'

'I am, and I won't tell you because it will only put you in danger Nanao.'

She stood up quickly, her neck craned to meet his gaze. 'You can't protect me forever, Taicho.'

'I can try.'

He watched Nanao push her glasses up stiffly. 'I won't let you. I will not ask you to tell me what you are hiding but I will tell you this – regardless of what happens, Taicho, it's my job to stand next to you. And I've never been one to shy away from work.'

Shunsui found himself smiling. 'What would I do without you, Nanao-chan?' _Let's hope I never have to find out._

Nanao had barely sat back down when both of them were suddenly called to attention by a voice from nowhere. '_This is 1st Division fukutaicho Sasakibe. Will all Taicho and Fukutaicho please report to the central plaza immediately. I repeat, will all Taicho and Fukutaicho report to the central plaza immediately. There has been another theft.'_

AN: This was a fun chapter to write, and notice I actually managed to put some plot in this one too . As always thanks to everyone who reviewed, I do take all your comments to heart so hugs for everyone. I got my Shunsui/Nanao key ring today so I am happy – oh, and look out for chapter 7 (which will be an angsty one methinks as the Ball draws ever closer). Ja!!


	7. Meltdown

Nanao followed behind her taicho's frantic pace silently. She wanted to say something to him, anything that would lift him out of the sudden depression that hit him every time a meeting was called, but for once nothing sprang to mind. The pink haori billowed out behind him as he walked and it proved a sullen reminder of who her captain really was, the peace loving and lazy man she had served all these years; but the fact he walked with his hand placed firmly on the hilt of Katen Kyoukotsu showed that these recent events were taking their toll on his demeanour.

He looked round at her as these thoughts were going through her head, somehow as if he knew what she was thinking, and offered an apologetic grin. It faded quickly, before he had even turned away, and Nanao felt the sadness pull at her heart. She missed his smile; she wanted to see him happy. If he wasn't then it made her miserable too, and she hated feeling miserable more than anything.

They reached the Central Plaza of First Squad ahead of everyone else it seemed since the doors were still held shut and no one was standing in the cold, impatiently waiting to be let in. Nanao remembered there had been a Ball meeting after the Fukutaicho meeting this evening, one she had conveniently forgot to attend. Kyouraku-taicho had told her to go, but she knew it was important to him that she report what had occurred at the previous meeting. That, and after listening to the actions of every Taicho in Soul Society being spilled out for nearly two hours, Nanao wasn't really in the mood.

Kyouraku-taicho didn't even bother knocking but settled on a snow covered bench instead. Nanao was too nervous to sit down and for a while they remained there in awkward silence, neither knowing what to say to the other.

'I wish it was spring,' he said suddenly, looking up at clouds that promised yet more snow. 'I've always disliked winter, it's gloomy and depressing. It makes me want to hibernate.'

Nanao, seeing her opportunity, smiled warmly. 'Don't you hibernate all year round, Taicho?' She paused briefly. 'There are no flowers in winter; I think that's what makes it gloomy.'

'We should get some flowers for the office, until the snow melts,' he suggested with a yawn. 'Some nice pink ones for me and some lovely blue ones to match your eyes, Nanao-chan.'

She felt her heart begin to warm a little, sitting down next to him as it did. 'Although, importing flowers in winter can be quite expensive. I doubt we could class it as a deductible tax expense either.'

Kyouraku waved a hand dismissively. 'We can just cut back on something. We don't _really_ need more paper do we – less paper means less paperwork after all.'

'There is _sake_ of course,' she teased and watched his face light up.

'Don't even joke about that Nanao-chan,' he reprimanded although he was still grinning. 'In fact, I was thinking we need to start buying _more sake_ since we managed to deplete the office supply already.'

'Most offices don't even have a supply; it's no wonder our office is falling a part now that I think about it.' _This is what happens when Kyouraku starts doing paperwork,_ she mused. 'You are hopeless, Taicho.'

'I've been telling him that for years,' a voice said suddenly as Jyuushiro appeared beside them, flanked as always by his two Third-seats. Nanao couldn't help but notice he looked incredibly ill, so much so he was leaning rather heavily on Sentarou's shoulder. His face was paler than she had ever seen it. 'Where is everyone? Wasn't this meeting called as an emergency?'

Nanao immediately suspected something foul was going on but her suspicions were aliviated when Kuchiki-taicho arrived, talking in rapid whispers to Abarai-fukutaicho. She had never known 6th Squads leader to look anything but impassive before, but he was frowning deeply at whatever subject was being discussed. He ended the conversation rather abruptly as they reached the door, although clearly neither of them were satisfied with whatever conclusion had been reached. The three Taicho acknowledged each other briefly and Kyouraku yawned again.

'I need a nap,' he informed no one in particular. 'And Jyuushiro needs a doctor. You look awful by the way.'

Ukitake frowned. 'And so do you. You look about as ill as I do. Is this what happens when 8th Squad's all-powerful Taicho doesn't sleep six times a day? Maybe this has been my problem all along.'

Kyouraku yawned again. 'Even when I do miss naps I never usually feel this tired. I slept after lunch while Nanao-chan thought I was working but I feel like I could sleep for days.'

'Maybe it's the two minutes of paperwork you did this evening finally catching up with you?' She replied coldly at having been fooled by him yet again. Secretly it made her happy though, to see at least something was still normal.

'Harsh Nanao-chan,' he said with yet _another_ yawn. For the second time in so many minutes she began to suspect something was wrong. Her expression must have concerned Ukitake because the humour slipped from his eyes.

'Maybe we should get Unohana-taicho to check you over?' Jyuushiro suggested as more people entered the plaza. A large group appeared, clearly the attendees of the Ball meeting, in a rather sombre fashion. 'Or do you still have an irrational fear of anything medical related?'

Nanao raised an eyebrow, and he laughed nervously.

'It's nothing Nanao-chan, it's not like I'm afraid of needles or anything,' he tried to justify as he waved his arms excessively. 'It's just that I'm not overly fond of hospitals.'

'You didn't have any trouble staying there day and night when I was there,' she accused before regretting voicing this statement as realisation dawned on why that might be. Her cheeks threatened to burn but she pushed any thoughts of _that_ to the back of her mind. She cleared her throat. 'Be that as it may, if you are ill then you have to be responsible about it. The last thing I need is to have you collapsing in the middle of the street.'

He yawned yet again and it was at this point Nanao noticed the flush in his cheeks and the sweat on his brow. She sensed a fever coming on but kept her opinion to herself as the large door finally opened.

'Time for another fun meeting,' he said dryly as they stood up and marched drearily into the hall. Yamamoto was already sitting ready with his usual scornful expression, although Sasakibe-fukutaicho looked out of sorts. Nanao thought he looked thinner and there were bags under his eyes. His hand was wrapped in bandages, and he was favouring his right leg rather obviously. It wasn't uncommon for Shinigami to become injured but to her knowledge he would have done nothing to merit any sort of wound. Their eyes met briefly but he held the gaze for less than a second. Nanao pushed the thoughts away and returned her attention back to Kyouraku.

'You look like you're about to faint,' she observed as they took their usual spot. He covered his mouth as another succession of yawns overcame him. 'I wasn't going to mention it, but how long have you been hiding that fever from me?'

Kyouraku shrugged innocently. 'I'm just tired Nanao-chan,' he assured dismissively. 'Besides I haven't been ill for centuries, why would I suddenly get a fever now?'

She folded her arms; this was a subject she wasn't going to drop easily. 'The snow, the fact you can't sleep– I hear you tossing about every night that's how I know,' Nanao answered before the question was vocalised. She continued, her voice lowered: 'Let's not forget all this trouble with Yamamoto-taicho. In short, probably for the first time in history, you've over exerted yourself.'

'Wow, just like Nanao-chan!' He tried with a smile but she was having none of it.

'After this meeting you need to see Unohana-taicho; I am certain she won't mind paying a house call if you don't want to go to Fourth Squad.'

He didn't get the chance to argue since Yamamoto began talking as she finished. 'There has been another theft,' he affirmed darkly. 'Another scroll has been taken, this time from the Classified Archives; I have people working as we speak confirming exactly _which_ time period the scroll concerned. The manner was much the same as the first theft leading me to conclude the crimes were committed by the same person. Has anyone had any luck in their investigation?'

The entire room remained silent.

Yamamoto sighed. 'Then there is no choice. Since the theft occurred whilst the Fukutaicho meeting was going on, we can reasonably eliminate them as suspects – or at least as independent suspects. Potential accomplices aside, only someone with Taicho level abilities would have been able to commit such an act.'

Nanao did not like where this speech was going. She gritted her teeth and copied Kyouraku's growing frown.

'I want every Taicho to account for their whereabouts from midday until this current moment.'

The ripple of anger that ran through the people present was to be expected.

'Are we under suspicion? Are we accused of being common _thieves?_' Soi Fon hissed as if she had never been more insulted in her entire life. 'That's absurd!'

'Yamamoto-Taicho, this is going too far,' Komamura agreed with a sagely nod. 'We should not be under suspicion, what proof have you that Soul Society has indeed been betrayed from inside?'

Kurotsuchi Mayuri snorted indignantly. 'Sounds to me like you are trying to hide something Komamura.'

'What? How _dare_ you accuse me-?'

And so the arguing began. Nanao observed the chaos she had predicted with bitter silence, stepping closer to Kyouraku-taicho as he did. He was not arguing but instead had a look of sadness in his eyes that she had never seen, nor ever wanted to see again. Jyuushiro coughed loudly drawing both of their attention. His face had grown paler and though he covered his mouth Nanao could see the blood that already stained his hands.

'Ukitake-taicho,' Kiyone began but was silenced with a sharp look from her captain

Kyouraku folded his arms and sighed loudly. 'Hey, Nanao-chan,' he began in a low voice. 'I think Jyuushiro is going to faint.'

'I think you are right, Taicho. Is there anything we can do?'

Kyouraku looked at her, his expression torn. 'I suppose there is one solution.' He cleared his throat and locked eyes with Yamamoto. The tension in the air was enough to render everyone silent. Nanao thought she detected a flicker of _something _in the old man's eyes but it was gone before she could think on it. 'Nanao-chan and I had lunch just after midday in the office, we finished about one. She went to Tenth Squad for some administration and I slept on the sofa, three members of my squad were in the office doing paperwork. Nanao-chan came back just after I woke up, probably around four. She was there for a little while before heading off to the Fukutaicho meeting.' He yawned without actually realising it and continued. 'I was alone in the office until she came back.'

Yamamoto frowned. 'You seem to have spent a lot of time in your office; how very unusual, _Kyouraku-taicho._'

He ignored the blatant disregard of his first name and answered the question with a lazy smile. 'Don't get the wrong idea, _Yamamoto-taicho,_ it's just warmer in there. I got into trouble for sleeping outside in the snow.'

Nanao had to admire his approach to this entire situation. Yamamoto proceeded to question him with increasing hostility as the answers he clearly wanted to hear were nowhere near the ones Kyouraku was giving. However Nanao, standing so close to him they were brushing arms, was not wholly fooled. It was barely noticeable but his entire body was trembling because of the fever's sudden onset. He looked like he would topple over at any moment. He was in the middle of answering a particularly nasty question about his activities during the Fukutaicho meeting when he suddenly stopped mid-sentence and suddenly swayed dizzily.

Her heart fluctuated and she caught him by the arm before he had moved more than an inch, steadying him in the process. He looked at her apologetically. 'Sorry, Nanao-chan! I guess I must have drunk too much,' he lied and continued on with his story as if nothing was wrong. Nanao was afraid to let go.

Kyouraku's account was finally accepted by Yamamoto and the old man predictably turned his attentions to Ukitake. 13th Squad's captain was faring even worse. His entire body was shaking violently and the entire of Kyouraku's interrogation had been punctuated by his increasingly harsh coughing. Blood was dripping on to the floor but that did not deter the old man.

'Ukitake, confirm your whereabouts this afternoon.'

'Yes,' he replied and looked set to follow his best friend's example but the next thing that came out his mouth was not words. Nanao felt her Taicho's muscles tense as the crimson puddle on the floor grew deeper. Neither Sentarou nor Kiyone dared move. He wiped his mouth with the blood-stained cloth in his hand and tried to continue. 'It may be obvious but I spent both this morning and this afternoon-' he was interrupted by another choking fit. Kiyone took a step forward but Sentarou prevented her from going any further. '-I spent all day in bed at home. I stepped out for a brief walk around lunchtime however-' His eyes widened as a wave of blood escaped him '-however I-' More blood this time sending the white-haired Taicho to one knee.

Nanao looked up at Yamamoto angrily but if anything he only seemed annoyed that his answers weren't coming fast enough. Her own Taicho, as she knew him, would not endure much more of his friend suffering.

'Hurry up!' The old man snapped suddenly, rising from his chair and charging towards the immobilised Ukitake. He opened his mouth but the result was the same.

'Jyuushiro stop it,' Kyouraku said finally. 'Sentarou, Kiyone-chan please help him.' Ukitake's face hit the floor as this statement was uttered. They made to support their ill captain.

'Neither of you move!' Yamamoto demanded. 'Kyouraku Shunsui! Last I checked _I_ gave the orders, not you! I will decide when he is finished talking, not you! He is still conscious so that means he can still-'

'-Have you gone completely senile?' Kyouraku interrupted angrily, waving his arm at the condition of Jyuushiro. 'He can't even stand up and you're interrogating him like he is a common criminal! Has your compassion dried up along with your sanity?'

As angry as Kyouraku was, Yamamoto was angrier still. He marched up to Shunsui, his reiatsu pulsating wildly. Nanao stood firmly next to her Taicho, even though she was being suffocated and met his cold gaze with frozen eyes. The strongest Shinigami in the whole of Soul Society looked at his oldest student with disgust and raised his arm slowly.

Kyouraku took the slap unflinchingly.

Nanao felt her eyes widen with the utter shock of witnessing this. She wasn't the only one. More than half the people were gaping wide mouthed or staring in angry surprise at their grand commander's childish retribution. Ukitake-taicho was staring up at both of them, his eyes bright despite his illness and he struggled to his feet with the aid of his Third Seats. Ukitake wiped the blood away from his mouth and cast an angry eye at Yamamoto-taicho.

'Hey, Yama-jii,' Kyouraku said as he rubbed his cheek. 'That hurt. Come on Nanao-chan, we're leaving.' He went to where his friend was standing and threw Ukitake's arm over his shoulder. 'Unohana-taicho, could you please come and check him over when you're done here?'

The woman nodded simply.

Nanao followed closely behind Kyouraku-taicho, not daring to look back in case she lost her nerve all together. She was aware of her footsteps, of her Taicho's laboured breathing and the emotion he was hiding behind his passive face. Sentarou and Kiyone looked as pale as their captain did, the poor woman was crying.

Nanao's resolve, which had been made of steel upon entering this meeting, was wavering. She felt the nerves creeping up on her again; her stomach was beginning to ache with the thought of them. Someone grabbed her wrist firmly from behind and she span around quickly only to meet the angry eyes of Yamamoto-taicho.

'Ise Nanao, you will stay here! Those two are only third-seats, but if you leave here now then you will be as accountable as Kyouraku and Ukitake.'

Nanao glared at the old man. 'Accountable?' She snapped angrily. 'Accountable for what? For refusing to participate in this degradation? For not staying to appease an old man's paranoid delusions?' She snatched her wrist back promptly. 'I refuse to be a part of this for a _second _longer than I already have. Excuse me.' She bowed promptly and stormed away, her heart thumping in her chest.

'Last chance, Ise-fukutaicho,' he warned. 'Remember where your loyalties lie!'

She stopped momentarily. 'I told you where my loyalty lies, Yamamoto-taicho. If you want to question loyalties then look in the mirror.'

Nanao caught up with Kyouraku-taicho in a second, he had the oddest look in his eye, one that she could not read. Together they all left the meeting hall and the central plaza. She knew her body was in some state akin to shock and it was only this that was preventing her from following the instinct to break down entirely. Ukitake had tried not to pass out but eventually he had lost the battle and Kyouraku was fairing little better. Sentarou was assisting him in carrying the limp form, while Kiyone sobbed freely in the background.

It was full on night and snowing torrentially when they finally reached their destination. Kyouraku-Taicho's seldom used house was dark and empty as they made their way up the long garden path towards the main room. Nanao always got the impression that, despite its grandeur, he disliked being here. His room at the office was only six tatami mats but it was more or less where he lived. It had probably been about half a year since he'd been here.

Nanao pushed back the sliding door to reveal a dark and cold room, the tatami mats strewn with a layer of dust. She used kidou to light the lamps and the fire as they lay Ukitake down on the floor.

'Nanao can you pull a futon out of that cupboard please,' he asked quietly. She took the one closest to her and laid it out on the floor; Kiyone returned with a bowl of cool water, Sentarou with spare clothes. They watched Kyouraku clean the blood away and peel away the blood covered outer robes from his friend. It took some effort and she could see her taicho was struggling to keep his composure but finally Ukitake was resting safely.

They retreated into the next room but left the doors open so that they could keep an eye on him and slumped around the low table there. Kyouraku's head fell onto the wood, his eyes glazed. 'We're in trouble Nanao-chan,' he said dimly. 'But you were brilliant. You should have seen the old man's face as you stormed away from him!'

'Taicho, are you alright?'

'Far from it, Nanao-chan.' He sat up again, slowly. 'Kiyone, Sentarou, could you go find some tea? There probably isn't anything edible here but at least that will keep us warm.'

They looked at each other and left with a bow.

'Nanao-chan, I don't know what he will do. The only thing we can do is find out who stole the scrolls before it's too late.' He lay his head on the table again, and Nanao suddenly felt her throat begin ache and her eyes begin to water. 'Hey Nanao-chan, we should still get those flowers…'

His eyes closed as whatever fever had been eating him all day finally won its struggle over his body.

She stood up and went into the next room, setting up another futon next to Ukitake-taicho. It was an effort but she managed to lift him through, pulling his haoris off as she lay him down and pulled the covers up to his neck. He frowned in his slumber, pain marked his features.

Nanao knelt next to him, unable to tear her blue eyes from his face. It wasn't right! _This whole damn thing wasn't right!_ She punched the mat in frustration and lost control of herself entirely. The tears flowed in an aching torrent from her cheeks to the floor as the emotion she tried so hard to suppress came spilling out. She flung her arms onto his chest and buried her head into them, vainly trying to disguise the sobs that were wracking her entire body.

'I'm so sorry Taicho,' she found herself saying.

The tears overwhelmed her again.

And then she felt his large hand brush against her cheek. She looked at him, surprised by his sudden movement. He sat up quickly and pulled her entire body into his embrace.

'Don't cry, Nanao-chan,' he whispered.

'Taicho, I can't stop,' she sobbed and buried her head into his shoulder.

He pulled her closer but said nothing more.

AN: Thanks as always for everyone's support . These chapters are getting longer! And I have no idea when this is going to end/where the plot is going but oh well! I still need to do the inevitable haori around Nanao's shoulder cliché! See you all in chapter 8!


	8. Revelation

Shunsui stood next to Nanao at the gates of 13th Squad and waved goodbye to Jyuushiro as his third-seats supported him towards his room. The gates closed and he sneezed bitterly, contemplating the amount of strength it would take him to get back to his own office. He had yet to fall asleep despite his illness and was quick to abandon his house as soon as everyone was awake. That large empty mansion had been in his family for generations yet it gave him nightmares every time he stayed over. He would easily suffer a little longer if it meant not falling victim to those terrible dreams.

Together they began to walk. Nanao had been quieter than usual all morning. It seemed like she had cried forever and Shunsui had felt so utterly helpless that it made him hurt inside. Eventually she had stopped but he was reluctant to let her leave his arms when it seemed like she was liable to fall a part. He had never seen her so fragile and it wasn't until after dawn she pulled away. It seemed that Nanao-chan was suffering just as much as he was.

The streets of Seireitei were thick with people but that was to be expected given the time of day. Mid-morning was always very busy since it was usually filled with meetings and various activities that required lots of interaction. It was never usually a big deal, in fact it was the best time of day to give Nanao-chan the slip when he wanted to have a nap, but today it was proving troublesome. Somehow news of yesterdays meeting had spread all over the city and they were attracting odd stares from everyone they passed. Shunsui yawned and pretended to be oblivious but it was upsetting his fukutaicho.

'It seems we can't be seen together without causing some sort of scandal these days, Nanao-chan,' he said in an off hand way. 'Just pretend they are admiring you instead of speculating the date of your pending execution.'

She pushed her glasses up stiffly, unimpressed with his attempts at humour. 'He can't execute you for walking out of a meeting or me for that matter. I imagine he will find some creative method to reprimand ourselves and Ukitake-taicho, but it is no use speculating.'

'I guess you are right, my lovely Nanao-chan. I just wish I knew what was bothering the old man; something isn't right with him.' Shunsui sighed darkly. 'No use speculating, right?

'It never helps. But whatever it is I hope he get's over it soon so that we don't have a repeat of yesterday. The next meeting we attend is going to be very awkward indeed.'

Shunsui yawned again. 'I need to sleep, Nanao-chan! I don't think I have the strength to make it back to 8th squad. Isn't there somewhere closer?'

She shook her head. 'You are not going to sleep on a bench, Taicho, so don't even think about it! You are already ill and I would have no choice but to call Unohana-taicho if you fall asleep outside.' Her voice softened slightly. 'Why don't you use shunpo? You will get back quicker, even if it does cost you more energy to do so.'

Shunsui considered her suggestion and thought of a far more interesting method of getting home. He slowed down ever so slightly and wrapped his large arms around Nanao-chan from behind. His head fell on to her shoulder, both eyes slipping shut. 'Why don't you just carry your poor captain home, Nanao-chan?'

Nanao, her face a furious shade of crimson, shook him off easily. Shunsui landed in the snow, and stared up at her with mock hurt in his eyes.

'You are so mean, Nanao-chan!' She extended her arm but did not meet his eyes as she helped him to his feet. People were still staring at them but at least Nanao wasn't so concerned with them anymore. 'Shunpo it is then?'

'Hurry up,' Nanao ordered as she disappeared from before his sight, her face still incredibly red. Shunsui followed her example and found that he had more strength then he originally thought. He caught up with her quickly but she was far too busy ignoring him to acknowledge this. They landed at the gates of 8th Squad just as it started to snow. Shunsui looked up as the droplet fell onto his nose and wondered when this depressing winter weather was going to end.

The office was cold when they entered it and both of their desks looked as if a year's worth of work had landed there overnight. He noticed his fukutaicho frowning but she kept her opinion to herself.

Shunsui used kidou to light the fire and Nanao closed the windows that were somehow open again. He looked at the large sofa longingly but knew with some measure of guilt that Nanao-chan would not even think of sleeping with so much work to do.

'Taicho, you are ill and tired,' she said promptly. 'Go to sleep or you will only get worse. The paperwork will still be there when you wake up; I can manage until then.'

'But Nanao-chan is tired too!'

'It's my fault we were up all night,' she argued as she sat down at her desk and barely met his eye over the stack of scrolls that were piled there. 'Change out of those wet clothes and get some rest.'

'But Nanao-'

She silenced him with her frown. He sighed and resigned himself to her demands; it was far too hard to not do what Nanao-chan said. Shunsui left the main office and went down the long corridor towards his own room. It seemed most of his squad were asleep since every door he passed was closed and silent. He had almost reached the stairs when someone called him from beyond the first ajar door he passed.

'Kyouraku-taicho,' the voice said nervously.

He doubled back and stuck his head through the door. It was a large room by most standards and a lot of the younger members of the squad were assigned there but even he was surprised by the number of people that were standing in it. Most, if not all, of his entire squad were present. Shunsui looked at them oddly.

'Kyouraku-taicho,' the boy repeated as he stepped forward. It was the same young man he had threatened to a sake drinking contest a few days ago, the same day _that_ had happened with Nanao-chan. 'We heard what happened at the meeting yesterday and we wanted to-' he seemed to lose his voice to nerves. Another man stepped, this one older.

'We wanted to let you know that, no matter what happens, we will support you and the fukutaicho no matter what.'

The room, initially very quiet, was suddenly filled with thunderous voices expressing their agreement. Shunsui was taken back. He smiled lazily. 'Free _sake_ for everyone! Just don't tell Nanao-chan.'

Everyone became even louder and Shunsui became aware of an aura of cold suspicion at his side.

'Don't tell me what, Kyouraku-taicho?' Nanao asked sceptically as she suddenly appeared beside him. 'Why is everyone looking so happy? What have you been saying?'

'You are too shrewd for a lovely young lady,' he replied as he yawned loudly. 'I was simply expressing my gratitude at having such a wonderful squad.'

She folded her arms. 'Your gratitude usually ends up with everyone being incapacitated for several days. I came to see what is taking you so long; I though perhaps you had passed out on the floor again.'

'Sorry Nanao-chan but I haven't even changed yet. I won't be long,' he smiled and took to the stairs rather happier than he had been so far this morning.

His room was at the very end of this floor which meant covering the distance he had just walked a second time. It was almost directly above the office which annoyed Nanao-chan because she would hear him snoring when she was trying to do work. She had a well placed broom to poke at the roof when she needed him for something and it had been a fairly effective method of communication all these years. It was small and cramped but the window faced south which flooded the room with light during the summer. It was fairly clean by his standards although he failed to put the futon away each night and it was a permanent fixture in the centre of the floor. Large cupboards lined an entire wall and were packed with things he had crammed there over the years. He had an entire wardrobe full of flamboyant haori usually in various shades of pink and several mismatched hakama stuffed carelessly into a drawer. There were several sets of Shinigami robes folded in a neat pile near the door and it seemed Nanao-chan had somehow managed to do the laundry he constantly forgot to do.

He closed the door and got changed quickly, looking over the dusty photo frames that lined the windowsill. Most were of him with Nanao or Jyuushiro; his and Nanao's joined birthday party since the dates were so close together; him and Nanao the day she got promoted to fukutaicho; Jyuushiro the day they had graduated – he scarcely looked any older despite the time difference; the three of them at last years ball. The picture at the end – him and Yamamoto-sensei from many years ago – was one he could not bare to look at long. Pushing it to the back of his mind Shunsui returned to the office and sat down; sleep was suddenly the last thing he felt like doing.

Nanao, who had managed to change and was in the process of brushing the dark hair she had just washed, stared at him oddly.

'You should wear your hair down more Nanao-chan,' he suggested as his head hit the desk. He watched her pull it back, suddenly feeling quite depressed.

'It gets in the way,' she informed as she got up and walked over to his desk purposefully. He followed her with his eyes and felt her cool palm against his forehead. 'I think your fever is growing worse. I think we should call Unohana-'

'-it's nothing,' he insisted but still couldn't find the will to sit up. 'I was just thinking about Yama-jii again. I hate not being able to help the people I care about.'

'There is something you can do to help, I am sure of it. It is simply a case of finding out what that might be. There is no use getting depressed about it because it won't help anyone,' Nanao said with a rare smile. 'Would you like some tea?'

Shunsui pulled his head off the desk and found himself feeling better. 'Nanao-chan's tea is the best! And I suppose since I can't sleep I should probably try and do some of this paperwork, even if it is troublesome.'

'Just make sure you read something before you sign it,' Nanao advised as she left towards the kitchen. Shunsui continued to watch the door after she left, lost somewhere in his thoughts. A loud knocking from outside brought him back to his senses and he turned to the window to see if he could glimpse who was visiting. Whoever it was had already been let in and he had barely turned back when there was a knock on the office door. They didn't wait for a reply.

Matsumoto Rangiku bounced into the room with an energy that frightened him followed rather more conservatively by Hitsugaya-taicho.

'Matsumoto insisted on coming,' Hitsugaya informed as his fukutaicho scoured the room in search of Nanao-chan. 'I was hoping Ukitake-san would be here as well but I will go to 13th Squad after this; is your fukutaicho close by?'

'Hitsugaya-taicho,' Nanao acknowledged as she was swallowed by Matsumoto's enormous embrace. Somehow she managed to hold onto the tray she was carrying and safely set it down before it was knocked to the floor.

'It was somehow left to me to inform you of the outcome of yesterday's meeting,' Hitsugaya began as he folded his arms with a frown. 'I should probably inform you first of all that I doubt you will face any serious reprimand over the events that transpired. After 13th and 8th squad left, 4th, 6th and 11th squad were quick to follow. Yamamoto-soutaicho vainly tried to stop them but by that point Matsumoto and I were already leaving as well. He was calling it treason but most are of the sound opinion that something isn't quite right. Short of executing half of the captains in Seireitei Yamamoto will probably not take any action for fear of causing any more damage than he already has.'

The young captain paused briefly.

'Unohana-san tried to get into 1st Squad this morning but she was refused entry to the central plaza. We do not know why this is. Kuchiki-taicho is taking matters into his hands in terms of the thefts and he more or less suggested we do the same.' A troubled look entered his blue eyes. 'It is not our place to judge but is it possible there is something ill with the soutaicho?'

Shunsui leaned back in his chair and looked at Nanao. She was staring at the floor, her face pale. 'I don't know. He hasn't been right since the ryoka invasion but how do you go about asking the most powerful Shinigami in Soul Society if he is missing a few screws? Ukitake and I are following Byakuya's example by trying to discover who is behind these crimes. Since we are not allowed near the location of the thefts it is exceedingly difficult to get any sort of clue.' He stifled a yawn. 'Be careful, Hitsugaya-kun. The way he is now, Yamamoto is looking to take his wrath out on whoever gets in his way.'

'I could say the same to you Kyouraku-san. It is not lost on anyone that Yamamoto is trying somehow to pin these thefts on Ukitake-san or yourself. Nor is it lost on anyone that the odds of either of you committing these crimes are slim. As to when the next meeting will be I am unsure, but I will keep you informed on any progress I make in my own investigations.'

'I will return the gesture,' Shunsui affirmed as the younger captain departed with a bow. Matsumoto hugged Nanao again and skipped after him leaving the office in a state of gloomy silence.

Nanao handed him the steaming mug without speaking and returned to her desk. Shunsui looked out the window again; it was snowing worse than before.

'We really should get some flowers Nanao-chan,' he mused as he wiped his warm brow with the sleeve of his haori. He looked at her for a response but she had not heard him speak. In her hand was a thick scroll, one she was staring at with eyes of total shock. 'What is it?'

Nanao looked at him and got up slowly, the scroll held tightly between white knuckles. Standing before his desk she offered him the decrepit item. Shunsui took it with some curiosity and felt his heart stop.

In his hand, engulfed in a shell of ancient kidou, was the Forbidden Scroll.

AN: And so the plot thickens! smiles evily. Anyway first and foremost I have to thank everyone for the influx of reviews for the last chapter – trust me I was utterly shocked by the number it received. I enjoy reading all of your speculations and opinions, although it is quite embarrassing when I am thinking of what to write when I am on the bus or in a lecture because it always makes me smile. If you haven't done so already join the ShunsuiNanao LJ community because the threads there are full of fun stuff. Can't think of anything else except see you in…where are we now…chapter nine


	9. Resolve

Nanao sat down at her desk utterly exhausted. Despite her best efforts she had not managed to convince her Taicho to lie down, let alone fall asleep, until darkness had once more consumed the winter sky. The scroll was hidden deep within 8th Squad in an area off limits to everyone who was not Kyouraku, and that included Yamamoto-soutaicho. Most of the afternoon they had debated every possible scenario as to where the scroll had come from or why it had suddenly turned up in their office, yet they achieved nothing. Nanao had discussed it until her voice was raw but all they could think to do was keep it hidden until they made a decision. She knew he did not like the idea – nor did it sit particularly well with her – but what choice was there? He had grown more ill with each passing hour and Nanao had finally reached her limit; after much convincing Kyouraku-taicho was tucked up on the sofa, shivering despite the warmth. As to whether he was asleep or not was something she did not know. His eyes were closed, his breathing shallow but somehow he did not look at peace. Having seen him asleep countless times before Nanao knew when something was amiss.

Resisting the urge to go over and check Nanao departed for the kitchen in search of some food. She had been far too preoccupied to realise she was starving but it was reaching the point she was going to faint if she did not eat. The cupboards were well stocked but that was only to be expected of a division with a captain who liked his comforts. By her own admission Nanao did not know what to do with most of it, her culinary knowledge stretching as far as onigiri and bento lunches. On the few occasions she had actually accepted his offer, Nanao had found that Kyouraku was something of a genius when it came to food. She enjoyed his cooking although she never told him, nor ever planned to, or he would be making her meals forever afterwards. _Anything to please my lovely Nanao-chan_ she heard him say in her head but quickly shook the thoughts free. However, looking at the daunting pile of raw ingredients before her, Nanao wished someone would cook for her now.

Resigning herself to a cold meal despite the snow outside Nanao brought the plain onigiri to her desk and compensated with a mug of hot tea. She sat down and picked up the rice, glancing over to check on her Taicho. _The sofa was empty._ Nanao sprang to her feet, the food forgotten and charged from the room. She looked down the dark corridor whilst trying to sense his reiatsu. It was close. Nanao sprinted towards the main door in the vein hope of catching him before he sped away but was surprised to find him just sitting on the steps, a blanket around his shoulders, staring up at the cloudy sky.

'That was fast Nanao-chan,' he observed in a hoarse whisper. Kyouraku looked up at her, his face pale and his eyes heavy, smiling gently. 'There is no escaping you, is there?'

She looked back at him with disapproval written clearly on her features. 'Of course not. When you neglect your health like this it falls to me to make sure you take the correct steps towards recovery, taicho. If you wish to continue with this irresponsible behavior I will not hesitate to do whatever it takes to make you stay in bed.'

'It wasn't too long ago we were in the same situation, only it was you I was trying to convince to stay in bed. I guess neither of us takes well to ill health.'

Nanao, feeling somewhat hypocritical, sat down on the step next to him. 'I will admit I am not a pleasant patient but it was different then; I could afford the luxury of staying at Fourth Squad until I was well again. The way things are now you need to recover quickly just in case-' she felt her words trail off. It went without saying now and if Nanao was honest she was sick of worrying about it.

Kyouraku looked at her piercingly, his manner suddenly changing entirely. 'Nanao-chan, I am going to tell Yama-jii about the scroll. We have done nothing wrong; we weren't even in the office when it appeared. Hiding it just makes us seem guilty.'

She broke his gaze and stared at the snowy ground, unable to bear that sad expression anymore. When she spoke it was scarcely a whisper. 'I know. But the way Yamamoto has been acting…Taicho, quite honestly I'm afraid. I wouldn't know what to do if…'

'…do not think like that, Nanao-chan. Maybe we can restore the old man's sanity by returning it. I will inform Jyuushiro and Hitsugaya-kun of our situation in case things go wrong. That is all we can do.'

'When will we be going to the Central Plaza then?'

'We?' Kyouraku asked dubiously before being silenced by her angry glare.

'You did not think I would let you do this alone. Remember what I told you before taicho, it is my job. I may not be able to stand up to Yamamoto-soutaicho but hopefully it will not come to that.'

There was a pregnant pause. Eventually Kyouraku smiled dozily.

'Two days, that is when we will go to First Squad. Tomorrow we will make whatever preparations need made, and then….' His words trailed into silence.

Nanao nodded, a lump forming in her throat. 'We should get back inside before you become worse. No more excuses.'

'Whatever my Nanao-chan says,' Kyouraku replied before losing his voice to a sudden succession of sneezes. She helped him inside ensuring that the door was tightly closed behind them and made towards the stairs. Unsurprisingly however he steered her towards the office and settled himself on the sofa. He tossed onto his side and pulled the blankets almost over his head; gentle snoring reached Nanao's ears before she had even sat down. Finally Kyouraku was asleep.

Nanao picked up a pen and leaned back in her chair, reflecting what her captain had said. There were few regrets in her past, nothing she would change at any rate, and she had not thought about the future for a long time. Nanao had lived her life around 8th Squad for so long she seldom had time to contemplate doing anything different. And, the present crisis aside, she liked things just the way they were.

_Except there is one thing…_

She found herself looking at her Captain, her cheeks burning as she tried to disregard the sudden revelation. Nanao shook her head and any admission away quickly, assuring herself as always that she was overly concerned about him due to his fever. It was Kyouraku-taicho after all, he didn't _really_ think of her that way or her of him.

_So why can't I stop staring at him? Is it because I may lose him soon?_

Nanao found this all too much to bear and hastily buried herself in the large folio that was a month overdue. She was trying her best to concentrate but it took a while before she was actually able to get any work done, although she felt only half her mind was concentrating. The other half was self-consciously trying not to glance over to the sofa.

The small clock on her desk hit midnight before Nanao actually noticed how long she had been working. Yawning she finally put the scroll away and decided that she needed some rest. She walked slowly to the sofa to check on Kyouraku but he was still fast asleep, his forehead burning but his face peaceful nevertheless. Usually she wouldn't care about leaving him to sleep in the office alone but tonight was the exception. He wasn't over the worst of his illness and she wanted to be close in case something went wrong.

Kyouraku turned on to his back and half-opened a single eye. 'You okay, Nanao-chan?'

'Sorry I didn't mean to wake you. Go back to sleep,' she replied in a low voice. He opened the other eye, ignoring her advice entirely. 'Is there something you need, Taicho?'

'Are you sure you are alright, your cheeks are all red?'

'It's nothing, do not worry,' Nanao replied quickly feeling her entire face flare with embarrassment. 'Can I get you anything?'

'How about a goodnight kiss, Nanao-chan? It would make me feel better,' he teased with a wink.

'Perhaps some medicine for that delirium you suddenly seem to be suffering from?' She replied with her usual coolness. 'You know where to find me if you feel worse.'

'Nighty-night my lovely Nanao,' he yawned and began to snore again. She wondered briefly if he had been simply talking to her in his sleep but quickly decided it was irrelevant. Feeling slightly more reassured by the small conversation Nanao made her way up to her own room and quickly found herself embraced in a cocoon of warmth with every intention of sleeping there until well passed dawn.

Sadly however Nanao found little rest that night. As soon as she closed here eyes useless thoughts began stampeding across her brain, pulling her closer to the realm of awake than that of slumber. Despite her tossing about Nanao could not find a comfy position that did not seem to offend at least one of her muscles. The minutes on the clock went by slowly and it was well after a few hours before Nanao finally fell into an uneasy slumber.

She awoke when it was still dark to an awful nightmare she could not remember but knew she had had before. Panting hard, her face a mask of sweat, she stared up at the dark ceiling, exhausted yet unable to sleep. Eventually she got bored and turned on the light, searching her room for something to keep her occupied. It was – just like the office and Kyouraku-Taicho's room – an explosion of mess. Despite her need to organize things Nanao found that she never had the will or the need to do anything to her room. She knew where everything was and that was good enough. About once a month she would enter it late at night and swear that she would clean it the next day, but it just never happened. However unlike Kyouraku-Taicho's room, Nanao's room was not a calamity of clothes, photographs, sake bottles and pointless clutter. Books were stacked in every available corner; her small writing desk was what her Taicho had described as her secret stash of paperwork in case she ever ran out, just like his hidden supply of sake. She had chased him out of her room for that comment but it held a grain of truth. Clothes were folded neatly in the small chest of drawers because it annoyed her more than anything having creased robes.

Hanging in the cupboard was the blue kimono she had worn to last year's ball and a couple of others she had scarcely put on. Several Yukata were gathering dust next to the only haori she owned and looking at them made Nanao wish it was summer. It was still snowing outside so she quickly closed the door before it made her depressed. Rangiku had talked incessantly about buying new kimonos for the ball and it was something of a tradition that Nanao got dragged into every year. The Women's Society would spend the entire day fussing about what to wear whilst she grew more and more impatient with their ridiculous giggles and indecisiveness. Eventually they would all turn on her with evil stares and make her try on a million things until they decided what she should wear. The fact she always seemed to colour coordinate with whatever Kyouraku-Taicho was wearing had not slipped passed her.

This year they would be lucky to live along enough to attend the ball.

Nanao, fed up of staring at the mess, decided that she may as well get up and make herself useful downstairs. She peeked into the office and found that he was still asleep on the sofa, his limbs sprawled in several different directions. With peace of mind she continued on to the kitchen where several squad members were busy eating breakfast before heading out on their rounds. She had increased the amount of guards around 8th Squad several days ago but it seemed to be doing nothing except irritating people. Nevertheless they greeted her warmly as she poured tea for herself and, without prompt, began reporting their efforts for the past few days.

Kyouraku-Taicho wandered in at some point giving them all a bit of a fright since they had not heard him approach. Nanao was glad to see he was at least looking better. He sat down opposite and she poured him some tea which, for some reason, made everyone around them grin deviously.

'Nanao-chan makes the best tea,' he commented as he swallowed half a cup in one gulp. He frowned suddenly. 'I think I burned my mouth.'

'You are too reckless,' she reprimanded as she offered him a cup of water. There was a brief pause. 'Are you feeling better?'

He looked at her with a smile. 'Well the water helped but it still hurts a bit.'

'Taicho…'

'You meant the fever? It has broken I think, although I still feel tired.'

'Nothing unusual about that then,' Nanao said as she hid her smirk behind her cup. 'Still, you should rest up for today.'

'Whatever my Nanao-chan thinks,' he replied and sipped the tea with clear caution.

Nanao, always overly paranoid about the rumours that circulated around her relationship with Kyouraku-Taicho, ignored the fire that their conversation was throwing fuel on to. She ate silently and listened as the conversation turned to the Ball, as it inevitably did when it was scarcely a week away, with mild interest. It would be the first one for her present company since only the top seated fifty officers of each squad were invited to attend, simply because the large hall only accommodated so many people. 8th Squad had seen a reshuffle of positions lately, the first one in a while, and as a result there were more than a few over excited attendees. By far one of the most heated topics of discussion was what people would be wearing. Nanao, who didn't really care, was usually the only person – besides Matsumoto - who knew what Kyouraku would be showing off and spent days fending off the prying questions of every female Shinigami she met. As far as she knew he had yet to pick anything, which would explain why Rangiku had yet to try and kidnap her for a day of painful shopping.

'Have you decided what you are wearing yet, fukutaicho?' Someone asked her suddenly.

Nanao pushed her glasses up and ignored the sinking feeling in her stomach. 'Whatever Matsumoto-fukutaicho picks out I suppose,' she replied, _assuming I am alive and able to attend._ 'It is not something I go to great lengths thinking about.'

'My Nanao-chan always looks so pretty when she gets dressed up!' Kyouraku added thoughtlessly. 'And all the other women glare at her all night because they are queuing up to dance with me and Nanao spends all night smacking me away!'

'It is like attending the Ball with a puppy,' Nanao affirmed. 'One that never learns. I always cave by the end of the night though, only after he has offered to do his share of paperwork of course.'

'It is a small price to pay to dance with my lovely Nanao-chan!' He sneezed promptly and ended their conversation. Nanao found herself dragging him back towards the sofa before she had realised it and was happy to see light filtering through the windows. Kyouraku-taicho slouched in the chair and watched her sit down at her desk. His eyes were bright. 'If things go the way I think they will then there won't be any Ball for us.'

Nanao picked up her pen and brought it to her lips thoughtfully. 'I suppose there won't be.'

'I will just need to get my dance before then,' he smiled.

Nanao found herself grinning and hastily changed the subject. 'What needs to be done today, Taicho?'

'Well I need to see Hitsugaya-kun and Jyuushiro, figure out what to tell Yamamoto-sensei, drink myself into a coma and prepare for the worst. Or…'

'Or?'

'I thought of a way to avoid all of that!' Kyouraku continued with the ditzy over enthusiasm Nanao had not seen for a while. 'You and I sneak away in the dead of night to the real world where we disguise ourselves as humans. I will get a job in a flower shop whilst Nanao-chan stays at home looking after the cat and raising the children. And then, once all six of our children are independent and a hundred or so years have gone by, we can come back and hope everyone will have forgotten about it by then! It's foolproof!'

Nanao folded her arms and forced herself to frown instead of laugh. 'What a wonderful plan, I cannot fault one thing about it! And who do you think is going to stay at home and raise six children?'

'And a cat,' he corrected with a rather serious expression. 'Maybe I should think of a different plan?'

'I think we need to face reality. I will priorities what needs to be done here; it would be best if you went to see Ukitake-taicho and Hitsugaya-taicho as soon as you can.'

'Whatever Nanao-chan thinks,' he replied and made to leave. 'Try and be finished by afternoon though; we should do something fun before tomorrow.'

He left before she could reply. Nanao pushed her glasses up, and tried not to think what this fun would entail.

AN: first of all an apology. I had something very epic planned for this chapter but – as writing goes – it did not seem to fit as well as I hoped. But do not despair, it will happen in chapter 10 which is being typed at high speed simply because it is killing me not to write it. Anyways, I hope this chapter is not without its merits (although I will be the first to admit that it is simply a bridge between the stuff that has happened thus far and the stuff that has yet to occur). Thank you for your reviews for chapter eight, they were all awesome. Expect the next chapter within a few days .


	10. Penultima

Shunsui entered the darkened corridor of 8th squad's main office and sighed heavily. In spite of his insistence to Nanao-chan that she should finish her work quickly so that they could spend the afternoon having some fun it was he who was arriving back later than he had anticipated. He brushed the snow from his hair and closed the door on a quickly failing afternoon. It would be dark within the hour yet he should have been prepared for this. Telling Jyuushiro potential bad news was time consuming enough without Hitsugaya-kun thrown into the fray. Between the two of them they had deliberated every possible alternative and outcome to Shunsui's plan concerning the scroll. He had tried – and failed – to leave on several occasions, not wanting to ponder his pending demise any more than he had too. However each time he had gotten to his feet a new concern would be aimed at him and he would find himself sitting back down.

The pair had finally worried themselves to a point beyond words a little over four hours after they had began and Shunsui seized his opportunity to escape when it came. No doubt he would be seeing both of them before tomorrow but today his sole purpose was to be with Nanao-chan. She had been on his mind more than the scroll was and it was with increasing worry he had been delayed from returning to her. His poor fukutaicho was on the verge of exhaustion again and it was troubling him deeply.

Shunsui shivered and pulled his haori closer to his large form as he shuffled down the wooden corridor. Had there been any light Shunsui was sure there would be frost lining the walls; if possible it was colder inside than it was outside. Today very well might have been the first time they could build snowmen inside the office which, admittedly, could be fun. He wondered how Nanao would react to that as he pushed the door that led into the room that would explode if any more paper was crammed into it.

'Sorry I'm late Nanao-chan,' he began but felt his voice dry up at the sight of her. She was lying on the sofa with an enormous tome folded across her gently falling chest. Her hand had fallen onto the floor, her glasses resting gently between slack fingers. Shunsui smiled to himself and silently pulled the heavy book away, placing it on the floor with her glasses on top. Then, his smile turning far more devious, he saw his opportunity to do something he had wanted to do forever. There were plenty of blankets lying around but this was a rare opportunity and Shunsui took great pleasure in draping his pink haori over her sleeping form. She tossed onto her side, mumbling something incoherent as she did and fell into a deeper sleep.

'Sleep tight my precious Nanao-chan,' he breathed and pondered what he should do next.

It took very little time for Shunsui to find himself sitting at his desk leaning back on his chair and staring out of the window, lost to thoughts of nothing in particular. The sun was well and truly gone now instilling a dark feeling within his chest. This winter had lasted forever and it was taking its toll on his mood. When the sun was present he was always of high spirits but the constant cold and darkness of this detestable season leached away at him constantly. He wanted to fall asleep and awaken when the trees were thick with pink sakura petals. He sighed darkly; Shunsui could not admit to hating many things but winter was established at the top of that small category of exceptions.

It was relatively late in the evening when Nanao finally woke up from her slumber. Shunsui was absently doodling on some folio or other that he had no attention of ever looking at when the sharp movement of her sitting up boldly caught his attention. She looked around for several seconds before getting her bearings and realising under whose pink haori she had been asleep. He could tell she was embarrassed and Shunsui decided to spare her the awkwardness.

'Good morning my lovely Nanao-chan, look what I drew,' he declared flamboyantly and held up the sketch for appraisal. She found her glasses and slipped them up the bridge of her nose with expert fingers, a twitch of a smile pressing her lips as she tried to depict exactly what he had drawn.

'Well Taicho it's very…what is it exactly?' She enquired unable to suppress her smile any longer.

He frowned with mock hurt. 'Can't you see it's a hollow, and that little figure there is Jyuushiro? Guess who those little guys are beside the tree? The one with the hat and the one smacking him with a giant book…' he pointed out excitedly much to her amusement. He at least thought it looked life like. He rolled the folio up and threw it into the large pile of papers that were mounted on the floor next to his desk. 'Is my Nanao-chan feeling better?'

'Much better,' she replied as she began folding the haori with unnecessary precision. 'Did things work out with Ukitake-taicho and Hitsugaya-taicho?'

Shunsui shook his head at the tedious memory. 'I swear Jyuushiro has been giving Hitsugaya-kun lessons in neurosis. Thanks to them I am now graphically aware of every possible scenario and outcome of handing the scroll over to Yamamoto-sensei. They held me up the entire afternoon,' he lamented as he lay back in his chair again. 'Not that there is too much to do when the ground is thick with snow.'

Nanao, always sensitive to his changing moods, stood up quickly and handed him the folded haori. 'Well what would you do if it was a wonderful spring afternoon, Kyouraku-taicho?'

'That's an easy one Nanao-chan,' he replied as he undid her hard work and threw the pink garment over his shoulders. 'I would take my lovely fukutaicho on a picnic and make her wear a yukata.' He smiled and left it at that, knowing there was no way his lovely fukutaicho would approve of the rest his plan. Shunsui sat forward suddenly. 'We should have a picnic anyway, right now in the office!'

He caught sight of her suppressed grin again, knowing that she had manipulated him into making the suggestion himself; Nanao-chan was keeping up appearances as always.

'You have the strangest ideas,' she commented. 'But given the direness of our current situation I will concur with you this once. However there is on part of your plan I _will not_ be going along with.'

'No picnic?' He tried.

'No yukata,' she corrected with a sharp wave of her arm. 'It is cold and impractical and I would feel rather foolish wearing it in the dead of winter.'

'I will if you will,' Shunsui argued haplessly and swore he saw her hesitate before she refused again. 'You can't have a picnic without one Nanao-chan. It may be our last ever chance to wear one…'

She folded her arms but he could see she was once more falling victim to his begging. However she was not beaten yet. 'Does it mean that much to you?'

'Of course it does,' he went along.

'How much? I don't feel the need to wear one in the slightest and if we should survive…'

'I see where you are going with this,' he interrupted sourly. 'How many weeks of servitude would it cost me?'

Nanao hid the triumphant grin well. 'Until the entire office is cleared of backdated paperwork.'

Shunsui was temporarily speechless. Eventually he found his voice. 'You drive a hard bargain but since I won't survive until this time tomorrow I accept.' She sighed and shook her head but the deal had been settled. 'Well then let's get this prepared. You push all this furniture aside, just burn the paperwork if you need more room and I shall make up the greatest meal ever.' He sprang to his feet and charged towards the door, smiling wider than he had ever done before. 'Then I get to see my Nanao-chan in a yukata!'

She looked at him bitterly but began pushing the desk aside nonetheless.

…

Nanao diligently avoided looking in the mirror as she passed left her room; she felt foolish enough as it was. Hanging in her cupboard has been rather more yukata than she knew she possessed and she pained herself recalling where they had all come from or why she had so many. It had something largely to do with a certain Taicho who bought her a new one every year for her birthday since it was in summer, and he just so happened to buy a similar one for himself to wear to his own birthday celebrations. But even taking into account Kyouraku's annual gift she still had many she could not account for. She therefore found herself with a large choice of what she could wear to this odd occasion and it took her a disproportionately long time to choose.

It was all part of her silly deal with Kyouraku on the surface but Nanao was all too aware of how much deeper it ran. With her recent admissions to herself over her feelings, as much as she tried to suppress them, Nanao wanted to remember this night. She was prepared to die alongside him tomorrow.

Nervously she walked along the dark corridor praying that she would not run into anyone from the squad on the way down. Luck, as always, was not on her side and she spent several minutes explaining why she was dressed the way she was. Her usual excuse for this latest bout of strange behaviour was written off with a grain of truth as she informed all who enquired of the price her captain was paying for this rarity. Most laughed nervously and hastily escaped no doubt to speculate about the state of their relationship somewhere private. Nanao reached the stairs with a little more attention than she would have preferred but nothing could prepare her for the sight she met when she reached the bottom.

She stopped breathing entirely.

Kyouraku walked past quickly, his arms burdened, and stopped dead as their eyes met each other. He was wearing an azure yukata that was tied loosely at his waist with a sash of white that she could make out despite the dim corridor. A familiar floral pattern graced the long material that fell across his legs, complementing the material beneath as it slowly bled into mauve.

For a full minute she stood there in awe, unable to speak.

'You look beautiful Nanao-chan,' he said finally ending the unbearable silence. 'A year of paperwork would be worth just this moment. I _never_ thought I would ever see you in that colour above any.'

Nanao found herself blushing. 'This is a spring picnic after all,' she defended, pushing up her glasses in a matter-of-fact manner. 'And spring means sakura petals, does it not?'

He nodded in agreement and Nanao caught sight of how red his cheeks were; it didn't surprise her that he had been at the sake already.

She sighed and continued down the stairs.

The office looked worse than it ever had before but for once Nanao did not care, she was far too preoccupied trying to suppress her thoughts. Kyouraku shuffled past her relieving himself of the food he was carrying and smiled contently.

'This will be so much fun,' he chimed. 'But we don't have a picnic blanket.' He looked around, his eyes lingering on the sofa before settling on his desk chair where the pink haori was spread lazily across the top. 'Perfect,' he declared as he grabbed it lay out on the floor with a single gesture. 'I hope you brought your appetite, my lovely beautiful Nanao-chan.'

Nanao looked out the window; a blizzard was raging through the night sky. She felt herself begin to warm a little at the prospect of having a spring picnic admits such bitter weather and somehow it seemed a rather fitting end to their potential final day together. Nervously she sat, her back to the window, and tried to find her stomach.

…

Shunsui lowered the cup away from his lips and watched his fukutaicho choke on her tea, laughing. It had taken many years but at last he had managed to make Nanao-chan laugh! He smiled to himself, revelling in the victory and found himself laughing not at what he had just said but simply because it seemed that her laughter was infectious.

'You say the most ridiculous things Taicho,' she observed when she finally found her voice again. Nanao was still smiling, her cheeks a flame across her pale face.

He shrugged innocently and finished the onigiri in his large hand. 'I just tell it like it is my lovely Nanao-chan! It is the world that is a ridiculous place.'

'Indeed,' she humoured and stretched a cramped leg out from beneath her. Shunsui found himself watching her as she did so, barely managing to stop himself before she noticed what he was doing. Nanao-chan looked particularly beautiful tonight; he had almost fainted when he had seen her come down the stairs, her hair down, wearing a pink yukata he had never seen before. The food in his hands had almost hit the floor with shock.

It was taking all of his composure to eat anything even now.

Did Nanao always have this effect on him? Was he just looking for the nearest woman because of what may occur tomorrow?

Looking at his fukutaicho, the way she gently pushed her glasses up her nose, he knew that was not true.

'Are you alright?' She asked him suddenly, tucking her leg behind her once more.

Shunsui looked at her and smiled dopily. 'Just thinking, my lovely Nanao.'

She frowned. 'Well there is a first time for everything I suppose.'

'Harsh,' he pined in a voice of mock hurt. 'Actually I was thinking about love.'

Nanao shifted uncomfortably, clearly misinterpreting his meaning. 'Well if you want to go and find someone, taicho, I am sure there are women queuing up to-'

He rubbed his chin wearily. 'You always think the worst of me! I don't mean I want to go and bed the first shinigami I see; I was thinking about _love._'

She picked up her cup and drank the tea quickly, disguising the onset of embarrassment with a practiced action. 'Why would you be thinking of such a thing?'

Shunsui leaned back onto his elbows and met her blue eyes steadily. 'Isn't it obvious? It's because I love my Nanao-chan.'

He expected the usual sharp reprimand; after all he declared his love twice a day and got shot down just as often. Instead she sipped her tea delicately, avoiding his eyes without any subtlety. It was amazing how many colours her face could turn in so little a time. At first it was pale, then paler, then pink and now it was a furious shade of crimson. He couldn't tell if she was embarrassed or angry but Nanao-chan soon made her feelings obvious.

'Why do you always do that, Taicho?' She asked in a voice scarcely louder than a whisper. 'Why do you always say such things?'

He sat up, leaning in closer. 'Because I do love you Nanao, more than anything.'

They met each other's gaze slowly and Shunsui could see there was hurt in her eyes. He was being serious, more serious than he knew he could be, and she thought that he was simply mocking her.

'Did it ever occur to you that it may hurt people's feelings if you go around declaring your love for them every day, even if it is intended as a joke?' She asked bitterly, slamming the cup onto the floor. 'Because it hurts my feelings, Taicho.'

He frowned softly. 'Nanao-chan, I wasn't-'

'People's feelings aren't something for you to use for your own pleasure! Did you ever stop to think for a _second_ what might happen if you falsely declared your love to someone who actually loved you back?'

'Do you-' Shunsui began but was cut off by her growing anger.

'How could that person live knowing that each time you told them you loved them it wasn't true?' She shouted. 'How am I supposed to endure that everyday?'

Shunsui almost fell over with shock as he watched the realisation of what she had just said dawn upon Nanao's face. Her anger was gone, replaced with an expression that transcended any description. He caught a glimpse of the tears in her blue eyes before she sprang to her feet and ran towards the door. Taking advantage of his greater speed he got up and grabbed her shoulder from behind before she could escape.

'Do you love me, Nanao-chan?'

…

Nanao turned to face him slowly, her heart thumping against her rib cage. 'I am sorry, Taicho,' she began. 'I was upset I didn't mean-'

She found the words stick in her throat, unable to escape as she felt his warm lips upon her own. Nanao felt her skin flare as her eyes widened, the suddenness of it all causing her body tremble. The kiss seemed to last forever and no time at all. They broke apart, his mouth moving towards her ear.

'I love you Nanao,' he whispered as she felt his large body press her against the wall. He kissed her neck. 'I have always loved you, from the first day we met.'

Nanao felt her body responding to his kiss once more despite her efforts to resist it. This was not right! This was Kyouraku after all; she wasn't really in love with him…Nanao lost her train of thought as their lips met again.

'Why?' She finally managed to ask. 'Why now? Is it because of Yamamoto?'

Kyouraku shook his head. 'It is because I needed to know that you loved me too. Yamamoto, the scroll, they are just the things that got us here now. The fact I love you has nothing to do with them.'

'Taicho, I-' she began but he was kissing her again, harder this time, passionately. He broke away briefly, his eyes searching for permission. Nanao tried to find the rational voice in her head, the one that should be telling her this was wrong but it was not speaking. 'Is this really alright?' Nanao managed feebly but was surprised to hear the moan that followed her question.

Kyouraku had all the permission he needed.

She felt him press in against her as they kissed, his hands moving towards her shoulder, his fingers gently easing the pink material away from her skin. Nanao could do nothing except respond to his touch. She felt the cool air hit her flesh but it was not this that was causing her body to tremble. Kyouraku was reaching towards her obi, their lips still firmly together; she felt her own hand move towards his yukata, her body aching in a way that it had never done before. They locked eyes again, for an eternity, and then Nanao was lost.

They moved slowly to begin with and she could somehow sense his hesitation. However each time he could not keep his hands away any longer Kyouraku had grown steadily more passionate as his reservations evaporated. The night passed in a blur of ecstasy that left the office in a mess that it had never before experienced. The papers from both of their desks were strewn across the floor admits the remnants of their picnic and the scattered details of their clothes. It was past dawn when, exhausted beyond reckoning, Nanao found herself wrapped in his arms on the sofa with nothing but the pink haori and each other to stave the winter cold.

'Taicho?' Nanao said as she felt sleep creep up on her at last.

'I don't think you can call me that anymore,' he replied dizzily. 'You can call me Shun-chan or something.'

She smiled to herself. 'I will never call you Shun-chan. What do we do now?'

'Well,' he began. 'We sleep on the sofa and when we wake up then the world shall end.'

'Yes, but what if it doesn't end?'

He laughed shortly. 'I'm hurt Nanao-chan! Did you take advantage of my better nature for your own devious needs just because we might die tomorrow?'

Nanao couldn't find the energy for much of an argument. 'Of course not. I was just wandering where we could possibly go from here.'

'Do not worry about that; we shall cross that bridge when it comes. Now it is time to sleep I think; we have a big day ahead of us after all.'

Nanao felt his embrace tighten around her as she slipped into a dreamless slumber, happier than she had ever been before.

'Sleep tight my lovely Nanao-chan,' he whispered. 'I will always love you.'

When she woke up he was gone.

AN: Nanao dear, somehow I don't think he was blushing because if the sake…anyways there is an explination as to the lateness of this chapter which involves my laptop breaking down and my reluctance to restart chapter ten on another computer. Suffice it to say I did and I am happy with the result. A couple of things; a yukata is like a kimono except it is made of cotton and worn in warm weather in case you are wandering what I am talking about; I switch PoV four times in this chapter but since this is THE chapter I kind of needed to. Anyways thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far/everyone who prodded me to write this chapter quicker. I am forgetting something I think but it is late so please forgive me and the probable abundance of spelling/grammar mistakes. See you in chapter eleven!


	11. Storm

Nanao sat up quickly, her vision blurred but her mind painfully aware of what had happened. She was unsure if she was angry or upset or concerned – it was a fusion of emotions that made her want to hide under the haori and storm off to find him all at the same time. As always it was her fury that prompted her to action and Nanao found her glasses lying next to an overturn sake bottle that had remained untouched for the duration of the night. She paused a moment as she remembered it; the touch of his skin still lingered upon her own making it flare with warmth even now. Nanao hesitated, debating if she was doing the right thing by going after him, but quickly remembered that she was deeply offended over all of this.

In an aura of cold anger Nanao got off the sofa and used the pink haori to cover her naked self. With some disdain she noticed that only the discarded yukata were lying on the floor of the office and that she could not go chasing after him in the depths of winter wearing nothing but that thin garb. Her quick mind estimated that she could afford to go upstairs and get changed, even if it meant the entire squad became graphically aware of what she and Kyouraku were up to last night.

Then again knowing Eight Squad they probably already did.

Cursing aloud and pulling the pink garment across her frame Nanao stormed from the room and made towards the stairs. She passed a number of people as her bare feet pounded the tatami mats of the hall. Most leaped aside and gaped after her in silent shock: even _she_ would have been surprised if the fukutaicho of any division walked passed wearing nothing but her captain's signature garment. There would be repercussions to this entire event yet Nanao found she still did not regret her actions last night.

Right now all she had was her anger.

Her room was dark and cold yet Nanao did not notice as she pulled the only set of robes that were hanging in her cupboard over her pale skin. The obi belt felt the depth of her frustration as she almost pulled it in half, still dressing as she stormed back down the stairs and towards the main door. She had managed to pull on her sandals and feel the cold winter breeze upon her face before her attempts were thwarted.

Approaching with a rather serious expression on his face was Ukitake-taicho, flanked with an even more serious looking Hitsugaya-taicho. Matsumoto was walking sombrely behind the young captain but quickly broke into a run as she spotted her friend near the door. Kiyone and Sentarou were a little less enthusiastic in their approach.

'Nanao-chan!' Rangiku sang as she flew into a suffocating embrace. 'It is no use trying to escape.'

'Rangiku please!' Nanao pleaded as her friend relented, if only a little. 'I have to go after Kyouraku-taicho!'

She broke free and had every intention of doing exactly that but it was seldom two captains arrived so early in the morning without some sort of agenda. Ukitake had his firm grip on her shoulder before she had scarcely gone two steps. She shot him a poisonous glance but it did nothing to deter him.

'Nanao-san, I am afraid we cannot let you go anywhere; those were Shunsui's orders,' he informed her as she felt herself being directed back towards the door.

Nanao was far too angry to be polite. 'Those were his orders? Why does he always try to protect me from everything? Forgive me Ukitake-taicho but this is Eight Squad and when Kyouraku-taicho is not present that means I am free to make whichever decisions I see fit. And right now that decision entails my going after that intolerable man! Excuse me.' She tried to brush past but Hitsugaya was there to block her way.

Ukitake looked at her with an apologetic grin. 'That is the first time I have had a fukutaicho pull rank on me,' he smiled. It did nothing to improve her foul mood. 'Be that as it may, Nanao, we are not going to let you pass. Shunsui would never forgive me and he has his reason which I am sure he will happily explain when he returns.'

'You are assuming he does return at all,' Nanao argued. She was trying rapidly to think of a means of escape but nothing would spring to mind. 'If something happens I will never forgive him or you for that matter! Now please allow me to pass.'

He grabbed her by the arms, rather more forcefully than she would have expected, and met her furious gaze with one of his own. 'Nanao! This is hard enough without all the commotion! Shunsui, for whatever reason, has decided he needs to do this by himself. You aren't the only one who isn't happy with his decision but you will have to accept it like everyone else.'

Nanao broke the gaze has she felt her anger evaporate, replaced with a raw fear she had never before felt. 'My apologies…' she trailed off and found she had no will to resist as Matsumoto guided her back inside towards the main office.

'Ah,' Ukitake said perceptively as they entered the mess that was their office, the contents of which explicitly pointed out the only activity that could result in such a tangle of items. All eyes fell upon Nanao; she felt her cheeks burn.

'How could you get your office in such a mess over night?' Hitsugaya asked cynically, oblivious to what everyone else perceived.

'You are so young, Taicho,' Matsumoto sighed as she trained her inquisitive gaze on Nanao, a huge smile plastered across her face. 'Perhaps Nanao and I should make some tea?'

'I should assist!' Kiyone interrupted as two women almost ran from the room, dragging a third behind them. Neither of them knew where the kitchen was and in their excitement they wandered around lost for a good few minutes before Nanao finally took charge, pointing them in the right direction at last.

Thankfully it was empty.

Nanao stalked towards the tea utensils, although it was the last thing she felt like doing. Anger had suddenly found her again. The others were buzzing excitedly behind her but Nanao did not feel in the slightest any need to satisfy their curiosity. It was her business after all, no one elses.

It took very little time for the suspense to conquer Rangiku. 'Nanao-chan, are we going to have to speculate all day?'

'Nanao-san, aren't you even going to confirm it for us?' Kiyone added desperately.

Nanao looked at them and slammed the tray on the table. 'I am too angry to talk to either of you just now. And I am far too angry at _him_ to sacrifice any more thought over the matter.'

The two women looked at her with wide-eyed gazes of surprise before turning to each other, their shock fading as their grins grew. Nanao tried her best to ignore them by busying herself with the task at hand but experience had taught her long ago that when Matsumoto wanted attention that is exactly what she got. A long pair of arms embraced her from behind.

'If only you had done it two days earlier, I would be rich right now Nanao-chan,' Rangiku lamented as she tightened her embrace. 'And judging by the mess of your office and the way you look this morning you two were rather busy last night. Won't you share the details with your best friend?'

Nanao refrained from hitting her best friend over the head with the tea tray. She wrestled free of the embrace and poured the boiling water she had been attending into the large teapot. Rangiku was relentless in her pursuit for details and tea had never before taken so long to brew.

'Please Nanao-chan,' Rangiku pleaded again as her endless barrage reached a level above toleration. 'Please-'

'Alright! Fine!' Nanao shouted as she span around to face the woman she was going to murder very soon. 'I slept with Kyouraku-taicho! Are you happy now?'

Matsumoto stared at her blankly and Nanao felt her face flare as she noticed that the kitchen had become rather more occupied whilst she had had her back turned. Everyone was staring at her, the same ridiculous smile on each face, and not even her fiercest glare could wipe them away.

Nanao sighed darkly as she picked up the tea and stalked away, her head held high. She did not look back even though she was being followed, at least not until she reached the main office where the two captains were doing their best to clean it. 'Don't you all have jobs to do?' She snapped at the men who were following behind Kiyone. They sped away before she could even blink and she turned an angry eye at Ukitake. 'A captain should not be doing that, especially in someone else's office.'

Ukitake dismissed her words with a wave of his hand. 'I think I understand why Shunsui is so afraid of you Nanao,' he joked. 'Besides where exactly are we meant to sit?'

'I have heard rumours of how messy Kyouraku-san could be but I never expected this,' Hitsugaya added as he threw the remnants of their picnic into the bin. 'I don't even want to know what caused it.'

'Speak for yourself,' Matsumoto added under her breath as she copied her Taicho's example. 'Nanao pour the tea and sit down. You look dead.'

Nanao, for once, was not in the mood to argue. She poured the tea like Rangiku suggested and sat down in the least obstructive place in the room – Kyouraku's desk – since it was next to the window at the far side of the room. She fingered her own mug delicately, with no intention at all of consuming its contents, and stared into the barren garden.

Unsurprisingly it was snowing again.

She could sense his distant reiatsu and feel her own heart surging. More than anything - more than her anger- she just wanted to see him. Nanao tried to suppress the tears but silently they rolled down her cheeks. She turned her back on everyone and wished more than anything that Kyouraku would return soon.

…

Shunsui held his ground as he stood before the old man sitting. Sasakibe was standing to his right looking rather more worse for wear than he had upon their previous encounter. He had acquired more mysterious injuries, the most notable of which was disguised by a heavy bandage across his forehead, and had the situation not been so tense Shunsui would have been curious. As it was however the combined sour expressions of both Yamamoto-sensei and Sasakibe were enough to stifle any other emotion except raw apprehension.

He was nervous about the scroll of course, the one Yamamoto was now holding in his aged hand rather delicately, but more than that he was concerned about Nanao. He was concerned about what would happen to her if things got worse or if Yamamoto involved her, and there was always how she would react to having been left behind if he should make it back to the office with his limbs in tact. Shunsui suppressed his anxious sigh and continued to stare at the old man. He felt rather cold without the presence of his pink haori but he couldn't bear to part it from his dear Nanao.

It was neither the time nor the place but Shunsui could not help but smile as he recalled last night. He had never felt so happy in his entire long existence! Just holding Nanao - being able to touch her flesh - had sent shockwaves across his body. There was no doubt in his mind that he was totally in love with his fukutaicho, though whether or not she had used him last night for her own devious design or if she loved him too was something he had debated all morning. Honestly he wouldn't mind being used by Nanao-chan in the slightest, but somehow he got the impression she loved him too.

Although maybe not now that he had left her under the inescapable eye of Jyuushiro.

He could imagine her simmering in the office, thinking up ways to make them both suffer. Indeed their next encounter would not be a pleasant one.

'Do you find something amusing, Shunsui?' Yamamoto asked suddenly, distracting him from his musings.

Shunsui looked upon the old man and saw familiar warmth in his eyes. Cautiously he answered. 'I was just thinking Yama-jii.'

The old man smiled at him. 'I haven't seen you smile for a while, you should do so more it keeps the body young. I must thank you for returning this scroll; we have been at pains trying to find it. I shall send an investigative squad over to thoroughly check your office so we can try and figure out why it landed there. I don't suppose you have had any luck with the other scroll?'

Shunsui was utterly confused. Was this the same man who had slapped him not a few days ago? 'Sorry, I will keep looking into it.'

'Good boy,' Yamamoto doted. 'Sasakibe can you please seal this scroll away?' The fukutaicho nodded once and disappeared. 'Are you looking forward to the ball?'

'Of course,' Shunsui replied, deciding it best to go along with whatever mind game the old man was playing. 'Will you be going, Yama-jii? You have been a bit off lately.'

Yamamoto dismissed his comment with a casual wave of his hand. 'I am as fit as I have always been; a youngster like you should not be worrying after an old man who can take care of himself.'

'Sorry Yama-jii,' Shunsui smiled although it strained his muscles to do so. Something was seriously wrong here. 'Was there anything else you needed me for?'

The old man considered briefly. 'Not presently. I shall inform everyone the scroll has been located. Please give my regards to Jyuushiro.'

'I will. I'll be going now,' Shunsui continued with his forced smile. He bowed slightly and tried not to run from the room as quickly as he could manage. Calmly he closed the door and sank against the wall, his face serious.

Who was that pleasant old man he had just confronted?

Not a little uneasy Shunsui moved quickly from the central plaza, entering the cold morning that had snatched Seireitei with sharp teeth. The sky was clear and it was not snowing yet the air was bitterly cold, and a harsh wind blew from every direction. Shunsui held his hat to his head, bitterly regretting his decision not to wear any socks this morning – it was a habit that was difficult to break – and burst into a succession of shunpo.

He landed at the gates of Eighth Squad in record time.

Despite it all he felt more worried now than he had last night. Shunsui stalked up the path and prepared for the storm he would face inside.

…

Nanao had felt his reiatsu as it had drawn closer but she forced herself not to move from his desk. She was busy trying to figure out exactly what she was going to say to him – she wanted to express _exactly_ how angry she was. The people in the room all stopped moving in unison as they too noticed the approaching reiatsu, all eyes slipping towards the dark aura that had consumed Nanao. She clenched her fist under the desk as he flew towards the office, stopping short of the main door. Ukitake lowered the sweeping brush against the wall and left towards him, flanked by Hitsugaya.

Rangiku looked at her purposefully. 'Aren't you coming Nanao? For someone who was so adamant to chase after him an hour ago, you seem rather reluctant.'

Nanao faced her friend, her unadulterated anger coming under threat from the emotion she had been trying to suppress. 'I don't know what to say to him anymore,' she confessed as their eyes met. 'I thought my anger would do the talking but now...'

She stood up slowly, feeling oddly nervous and forced her feet to follow Matsumoto towards the door. She had almost reached it when she caught sight of the pink haori lying carelessly on the sofa. A small grin somehow managed to find its way on to her face.

The talking stopped as Nanao entered the hallway. She looked at his broad form in the dim light, right from his windswept hair to his bare feet and suddenly felt like her heart was going to explode. It took less than a second for his face to break into a dopy grin as he abused his ability to shunpo by tearing towards her.

'Nanao-chan!' He screamed as he wrapped his enormous arms around her petite form. 'I missed you so much! Where is my welcome home kiss?'

'I retain the right to refuse you anything of the sort,' she replied as she thrust the pink garment into his freezing hands. 'What were you thinking of going out in such cold weather without a haori?'

He shook his head. 'Don't change the subject,' Kyouraku teased with a smile. 'You sacrificed that right last night.'

Why there always seemed to be a wall behind her every time he leaned into kiss her was a question Nanao did not know the answer too, but it was still something that made escape impossible. She lost all control of her body as he pressed his lips against hers.

'Wait a minute I am still angry at you for leaving and I am sure Ukitake-taicho...' she trailed off as he broke away only to have her words suffocated by him once more.

'My apologies Nanao,' Kyouraku said as he pulled her into a gentle embrace. 'I know it was selfish of me, but I just don't know what I would do if something had happened to you.'

Nanao looked up at him. 'And exactly what would I have done if something happened to you? And contrary to what you may believe I can in fact take care of myself...' she stopped as yet again he kissed her, pushing her rising anger back as he did so. 'You can't just do that every time I say something you don't want to hear.'

'But I like kissing you Nanao,' he contested.

'Be that as it may,' Ukitake intervened before this argument could continue. She could not help but notice he was suppressing a smile. 'I for one would very much like to hear what happened with the scroll. Shunsui?'

'I want to see them kiss some more,' Rangiku objected.

'Matsumoto,' Hitsugaya said warningly. 'This is not the time or the place for such things. Kyouraku-san, how did it go?'

'All shall be explained but not in the middle of the hallway,' Kyouraku confirmed. 'It requires the aid of chairs and sake.'

There was a collective sigh but no one bothered arguing. Nanao went back into the office, Kyouraku draped over her shoulders heavily as she did. She shrugged him onto the sofa and poured him a cup of tea from the pot she had made not ten minutes ago for want of anything better to do. He accepted it gratefully and managed to enjoy a single sip before the expectant staring from those surrounding them became too much.

'To be honest either Yamamoto's gone senile, or he has an evil twin somewhere because the man I just gave that scroll to was not the man who tried to have us all tried for treason not a few days ago.'

'What do you mean, Shunsui?' Ukitake asked with a frown.

Kyouraku rubbed his beard thoughtfully. 'I mean he was acting like he used to do, almost like nothing that has happened actually happened. He was asking me about the Ball and thanked me without question when i gave him the scroll.'

'I don't understand. You mean he _didn't_ try and arrest you for stealing a scroll, pining present company as accomplices in your crime?'

'Quite the opposite, and it has made me even more concerned than i already was. This bout of normal behaviour all of a sudden, do you think maybe he was putting on some grand act?'

Ukitake shook his head. 'This is possibly part of his scheme.'

'You are assuming he has one,' Hitsugaya interrupted. 'We have yet to establish any sort of solid method for his actions.'

'Somehow I doubt this is all just coincidence but that aside Hitsugaya is right,' Ukitake continued.

'Here we go again,' Kyouraku sighed as he anticipated the long conversation ahead. 'This time with added Nanao-chan. I shall prepare a futon since we will probably be here that long.'

'Taicho this is serious,' Nanao reprimanded as he pulled her on to the sofa next to him and moved to kiss her again. 'Now is not the time...'

Ukitake sighed hopelessly. 'We will get nowhere at this rate. Kiyone, why don't you and Matsumoto take Nanao as far away from Kyouraku as humanly possible so we can actually have a conversation?'

'Please do,' Hitsugaya added.

Nanao had little chance to argue as she was dragged from the room by a woman on either side, both of whom were discussing some sudden urgent business that they had to attend to straight away. They reached the front door and were hit by a burst of cold air.

'So what is this urgent business?' Nanao asked dubiously, her mind only on one thing.

'Well there is a fukutaicho meeting this morning but no one expects anyone from Eigth, Tenth or Thirteenth Squad to attend due to current circumstance. Thus you are going to describe down to the last detail what happened last night whilst we go shopping! After all, now that we know Kyouraku will be alive and well enough to attend the ball, this takes priority.'

Nanao tried to pull back towards the office. 'I really have some paperwork to do...'

'Nanao, the Ball is less than a week off. And you must look the part since it is quite possible Kyouraku's fanclub will be out to murder you. Now no more arguing, come!'

All hope of escape was lost. She sighed and allowed herself to be dragged towards her pending doom.

AN: sorry this one took so long but alas i have a new laptop and all is good with the world. There is a distinct lack of any sort of sex but this chapter is all about plot bunnies as is obvious. Nevertheless I hope everyone enjoyed it! The LJ community has been a little quiet as of late...lets all flood it with random shunsui-nanao spam! Until chapter 12...


	12. Confession

Nanao had spent the better part of a week safely behind the doors of Eighth Squad. Not only had the snow grown worse making going outside almost physically impossible, not to mention the impossible amount of paperwork she had been left with, but Nanao simply could not take the whispers any longer. Never one to draw attention to herself she had suddenly found herself at the centre of Seireitei's hottest rumour and it was driving her mad. Everywhere she went her name cropped up, people going mysteriously quiet as she walked by, only to start their conversation again whilst she was still in earshot. Nanao, knowing that the situation was not so much a rumour but – as this week had demonstrated – a very frequent truth, had not been able to look anyone in the eye for days.

Rangiku on the other hand was ecstatic. They had attended a meeting together two days ago after Ukitake had insisted they all at least _pretend_ that everything was alright, and Nanao had endured the prying questions of twelve insatiably curious fukutaicho for an entire afternoon. She would not have expected this sort of behavious from most of them but even Sasakibe was mildly interested in this sudden development. Admittedly she was dreading the last Ball meeting before the actual event occurred, where the entire Women's' Society would be present without exception.

She had contemplated feigning illness but Matsumoto would drag her along anyway.

It was mid-afternoon when Nanao finally decided to stop for a break. She had been working non-stop since early this morning, her concentration only punctuated by the constant snores of her captain – Shunsui – as he slept soundly at his desk. Nanao could not get used to calling him anything but 'Taicho' regardless of how much she reprimanded herself.

Her cheeks burning Nanao stood up and worked the cramp from her shoulder. Instinctively she glanced over to see if the sleeping man was still breathing but as always his sake induced coma had done him no real harm. She disapproved of him drinking in the middle of the afternoon but secretly it made her happy to see him enjoying himself again. He had been in remarkably good spirit since returning from the meeting with Yamamoto but she felt him toss about restlessly late at night, his eyes not succumbing to slumber until after dawn. It was unsurprising that she herself had not been getting any sleep of late, although that was not wholly attributed to anxiety.

Satisfied that things were as they should be Nanao followed the familiar route to the kitchen and did her best to ignore the hush that fell over everyone present. She glared at them with the expression she reserved only for her foulest moods and it seemed to do the trick.

'Would you like some tea Fukutaicho?' A young woman with dark hair and a pretty face asked her rather dryly. Nanao considered briefly, but instinct and Matsumoto had taught her to keep away from any female who had shown a remote interest in Kyouraku within the past century or so.

'No thank you. I have some more paperwork to catch up on,' Nanao replied with her best attempt not to snap at the woman. With a flick of her hair she turned back to her small group of friends – each of whom was staring at her with the same ravenous eyes – and Nanao was free to raid the cupboard in search of anything half edible.

She found some onigiri that were still borderline and was in the process of reaching for them when the world around her suddenly went dark.

'Guess who, Nanao-chan!' A deep voice sing-songed as his heavy hands succeeded in swamping her face. She sighed darkly but unsurprisingly it did not discourage his childish behaviour. 'That's right my lovely Nanao! It's your Shun-chan!'

Nanao pushed his hands away with some effort and met his puppy dog eyes with the appropriate amount of disdain. 'I refuse to call you that,' she reminded him for the countless time. 'Are you feeling refreshed?'

'I am full of energy! Did you have something in mind, Nanao-chan?'

She smiled darkly. 'Of course, the office is absurdly overfilled and it will take me weeks to catch up since I, once more, seem to be doing both of our paperwork. That will keep me occupied until my meeting.'

He shook his head. 'That's not what _I _had in mind...'

'If you will excuse me,' she said sharply and promptly left the kitchen, a trail of whispered conversation haunting her all the way down the corridor. Kyouraku wasn't far behind either. She had scarcely set foot in the main office when the door slammed behind her suddenly and his presence became known to her. 'You know you still own me for that yukata, Taicho, and I am not going to let you forget it just because...'

He had his lips upon hers before another harsh word could leave her mouth. Her face flared and as always she lost all control of her senses until their lips parted. She tried to shake the feeling off before the inevitable happened but already Kyouraku had pulled her into his tight embrace, his hand moving towards her obi belt. Nanao glanced fleetingly at the desk full of paperwork but any thought of it was soon stolen away.

Much to her dismay they were interrupted within a couple of seconds as Matsumoto came bounding into the office without as much as a knock. She assessed the situation in one quick glance, her cat-like grin spreading across her face.

'Please don't stop on my account,' she chimed as Kiyone and several others entered the room coyly. 'We were here to see if Nanao wanted to go shopping before the meeting tonight but if you are busy then we can leave again.'

'Leave again, Rangiku,' Nanao insisted. 'I would rather do paperwork than go shopping. Besides I spent all my money last time.'

'True but you _still_ didn't find a kimono for the Ball. Nanao-chan spent every last penny she had in the bookshop.'

'I cannot be blamed for a one-day-only sale, Rangiku. I can just wear something upstairs. Heaven knows I have a _ridiculous_ amount of kimono and yukata.'

'Nanao-chan also has a hidden pile of money _somewhere_ too no doubt. For cases of emergency,' Rangiku continued to argue, 'such as a new kimono for the Ball she is practically responsible for holding together. You cannot escape Nanao; you are coming shopping before the meeting!'

She looked at Kyouraku desperately – there was something besides paperwork and shopping she would rather be doing right now. However he was smiling at her dopily, his cheeks red.

'I want to see my Nanao in a kimono,' he admitted. 'I want to go shopping too!'

'Sorry Kyouraku-taicho, you can't see her until the Ball,' Kiyone informed as Nanao was wrenched by the freakishly powerful combined grips of Nemu and Isane towards the door. 'I think Ukitake-taicho was looking for some company this afternoon.'

Kyouraku's look of mock hurt quickly evaporated as he grabbed the nearest sake bottle, stole a kiss from the restrained Nanao, and sped out the door in a succession of shunpo. Nanao sighed darkly and promptly broke free of her captors, trouncing the steps towards her room and the money she was about to squander on a kimono she would only wear once.

'Wow how much money do you have saved up?' Rangiku asked in amazement as she scouted the rather excessive stash she had buried in the depth of her wardrobe.

'Ten percent of every pay I have had since becoming a shinigami,' she informed matter-of-factly. 'Kiyone please don't touch that...'

The third seat managed to knock a precarious stack of books to the floor as half of the Women's society desecrated her room with their nosy fingers. For most of them it was their first time being in her room.

'Apologies Nanao-san,' the younger woman said sheepishly. 'I was just surprised you could stack books like that without them falling over.'

'Yes well,' she replied sharply. 'Shall we be off?'

Nanao watched everyone leave and kept her sigh to herself. This was the last thing she felt like doing today but it seemed there was nothing else for it. Matsumoto would never forgive her if she did not wear something new to the Ball. If Nanao was honest with herself – and this thought had only occurred to her late at night – she was rather apprehensive about the whole thing. She just had the feeling that whatever had been going on in Soul Society lately would come to a head then, that Yamamoto was waiting for every Shinigami of moderate strength to be present in the same place...

An opportunity like that did not occur often.

Wasting effort over pointless frivolities, when what everyone was wearing would probably be the least of any concern, just made her feel depressed. She doubted anyone else felt as she did, but deep down Nanao did not think she was being paranoid.

'Are you okay Nanao?' Rangiku asked suddenly, pulling Nanao out of her dark musings.

'It's nothing, shall we be off too?'

Her friend offered a concerned grin and Nanao found her head buried in a large bosomed embrace. 'You will see Kyouraku soon enough, there is no need to look so lovesick.'

Nanao did not correct her friend's misdiagnosis and said nothing else until they were trudging through the snow lined streets. Decorations for the Ball were already littering the road as the eager committee of female shinigami they had enlisted were hard at work. For those not invited to the Ball several parties all over the city would no doubt take place, as they always did every year. Kyouraku-taicho – Shunsui, she reminded herself again – had already given permission for Eighth Squad to hold their celebrations. Unsurprisingly it ended up being the biggest party, with the delegates of most other squads arriving with copious amounts of _sake_ and usually a fair amount of people from the Ball as well. Last year it had gone on for three straight days, much to Nanao's annoyance, and had only ended when Kuchiki Byakuya had turned up in search of most of his squad, including his fukutaicho

He had never quite forgiven Abarai-kun.

It was with some disdain that she realised the Ball was only two days away. Kiyone and Isane were talking excitedly up ahead, occasionally sparing a look for the black aura that was trailing behind them rather unenthusiastically, but losing themselves to talk of who had asked who to dance last year. Despite herself, Nanao thought back to when she had danced with him and wondered if back then she had already been in love with him. It occupied her thought until she suddenly found herself being thrown head and foot into a blue kimono inside a shop she had no recollection of entering. It seemed they weren't following tradition this year by waiting until everyone else was satisfied.

Nanao felt like a ragdoll. Sighing, she wondered if he was having as much fun as her.

Shunsui walked behind Jyuushiro and pulled his haori closer to his body. It was so cold today, and it was getting even colder now that evening was approaching. His white haired friend was wrapped in so many layers that it was a wonder he could walk and it had made their task take far longer than it should. Unsurprisingly however, Jyuushiro had gone with blue hakama and a blue haori, like he did every year. He had gone for a paler shade this year admittedly but there was simply no variation in what the man wore. Shunsui on the other hand – with the aid of some conveniently placed female shinigami who had been stalking them since they left Thirteenth Squad – had gone for a deep reds and black.

He had it on good authority that his lovely Nanao-chan had made a similar choice – choice in the loosest sense of the word – but was not all together looking forward to the Ball. Her meeting would be over by the time he got back to the office and hopefully he would be able to pry the root of her concerns with some gentle persuasion.

The very thought of this made him want to shunpo all the way back to Eighth Squad.

'I guess we part here Shunsui,' Jyuushiro confirmed as they reached the familiar fork in the road. 'Please try and get some sleep before the Ball. You do look tired.'

'I will admit Nanao-chan isn't the only thing keeping me up at night,' he joked but it succeeded only in making his friend frown. 'Sorry for making you worry so much lately. I do try not to worry about everything but I can't help it'

Jyuushiro folded his arms. 'If Yamamoto is going to make a move it is more than likely he will be making it soon.'

'I wish he would hurry up, I can't stand waiting for things to go wrong when it is so obvious that they inevitably will.' He sighed darkly. 'I suppose I will see you at the Ball then.'

'Goodnight,' Ukitake smiled and disappeared in the flash of an eye.

Shunsui followed his friend's example and bared the cold so that he could reach home faster. It was fully his intention to go to bed as soon as he talked with Nanao-chan, he felt so tired all of a sudden, but of course it would not be as simple as that. An ambush awaited him as he entered the main building. Half the squad it seemed were there to see exactly what he would be wearing. It was his privilege as captain not to tell them of course but somehow from that he ended up in the kitchen drinking _sake_ before he realised what was going on.

Not wishing to be rude he indulged in a couple of cups, not enough to have any sort of effect on his behaviour, and excused himself as soon as he saw he could. Leaving the noise behind him as he walked the corridor Shunsui found the door to his office shut tightly, which was odd in itself because neither he nor Nanao ever fully closed the door if they were alone. Frowning slightly he turned the handle and entered cautiously.

'Welcome back,' Nanao said distractedly as she walked across the room to retrieve a large portfolio from his desk and walked back to her own. She looked up when she realised he was still standing half in the doorway. 'What? Are you ill, do you need me to get you something?'

He shook his head. 'I was wandering why you closed the door.'

She leaned back in her chair. 'Because the racket coming from outside is distracting me. Everywhere I looked today there were party preparations going on; it is rather infuriating that I seem to be the only person who has remembered that there is still an entire day of work left before any party will be happening.'

'It's not like you Nanao. Usually the noise manages to goad you into paperwork frenzy, not distract you,' Shunsui confirmed as he finally entered the room, closing the door behind him. 'What _exactly_ is concerning you about the Ball?'

She looked a little taken back by his sudden question but answered none the less. 'It is probably nothing but I can't help but feel that something bad will happen. The strongest Shinigami in Seireitei gathered together, without their weapons, off guard; it is the perfect opportunity for Yamamoto-soutaicho to do something.'

Shunsui sank onto the sofa and began ringing the moisture from his hair. 'The same thought had occurred to me. But it's not like we are defenceless without our Zanpaktou either; even Yamamoto could not win against multiple captains.'

'That is true. But you have to take into consideration the contents of the two scrolls that went missing. I have no idea what that forbidden scroll contained but if there was something in there he could use...'

'Nanao, there is nothing in there that he could use.'

'Surely there must be some forbidden kidou that he could use, something that got the scroll confiscated in the first place?'

'Nanao, you misunderstand me. There is _nothing_ in the scroll. It's blank – Jyuushiro and I, many years ago back at the Academy, were experimenting with some of the kidou it contained and somehow managed to erase what was written there.'

'You and Ukitake-taicho erased an entire scroll of powerful kidou and were not exiled for your dangerous meddling? The Academy has strict rules about...'

'We realised that years later. The scroll was sealed before we could find out where the contents of the writing went – we concluded after some research that it had not entirely disappeared but was merely transferred somewhere else. With the scroll sealed we did not have to worry about it, but all this recent business has gotten us concerned again. The second scroll that was taken – it was from the exact date of the accident.'

Nanao pushed her glasses up stiffly, her blue eyes concerned. 'What would happen if Yamamoto was to somehow reopen the forbidden scroll?'

'There are several possibilities. The first is that he would find it blank and, knowing we were the last people to consult it, have an excuse to exile myself and Ukitake from Soul Society. Failing that the scroll would restore itself if the other one was present, but we believe there is some sort of key behind that happening – a trigger of some sort. We believe this is the most likely.'

She shook her head mildly. 'It seems my concerns were well founded after all. There is no way to prepare for what we might face then.'

'I am afraid not,' he confirmed with a yawn. He felt better now that he had finally got the bulk of his concerns off his chest. They were still there, at least now he had someone besides Jyuushiro to share them with. 'I am sick of worrying about it Nanao.'

Nanao rubbed her eyes and closed the folio she was reading. 'I can't concentrate anymore; I think I will go to bed.'

Shunsui smiled tiredly. 'What a coincidence, that is exactly where I was about to suggest we go.'

'You never miss an opening, do you Taicho?'

He shook his head. 'You can't call me that anymore, Ise-fukutaicho.'

She offered him a weary grin. 'Good night then, Shunsui.'

He grabbed her hand as she walked past, kissing her gently on the forehead. 'Don't think you can escape me that easy, Nanao.'

Nanao had awoken on the day of the Ball with a sinking feeling in her stomach. It was early morning and she could hear Shunsui snoring gently next to her, his face lost in a peaceful slumber. She lay there a couple of minutes, watching him as daylight began to seep through the crack in the curtains. He mumbled something incoherent about flowers and kittens, his eyes opening slightly and – seeing it was still relatively dark – returned to the realm of slumber. Nanao almost decided to follow him but somehow she knew that going back to sleep would be impossible. There was yet _another_ Ball meeting today concerning some emergency that had arisen with some pointless decoration or other. It had been her intention to not go but once again Matsumoto had gotten her way as always and in a little over two hours she would be taking notes at top speed.

With a yawn Nanao got out of the futon, stepped carefully over the sleeping form, and crossed the hall to her own room. She had been neglecting doing laundry recently and was down to her final set of robes; it occurred to her that she would not be able to do any washing for a couple of days. Her mind was too heavy to be concerned about this and she felt a headache grow as she walked to the office. To her surprise she heard hushed voices echoing through the partially closed door. Nanao sighed darkly, this happened every single year.

'My, aren't we eager to get some work done today?' Nanao asked shortly as she rounded on the three female shinigami who were silently trying to search the office for whatever Kyouraku was wearing.

'Fu-fukutaicho!' They said in unison, their faces a mask of shock and dread.

Nanao crossed her arms. 'Haven't you learned by now that he doesn't keep what he is wearing to the Ball in sight of anyone? If you want a hint then you need to ask Matsumoto-fukutaicho. Or would you rather stay here and help me get through that mountain of paperwork?'

They sped from the office before Nanao could even blink. Shaking her head but glad at least they were out of her hair she sat down with the intention of working out possible outcomes for tonight. She wished she had an excuse to see Yamamoto before the Ball but there was nothing that would require her to go all the way to the central plaza. And since her plans never went accordingly her thoughts were punctuated by the untimely visit of Rangiku.

'I knew you would be awake, Nanao,' her red haired friend confirmed with a wink. 'I was so excited that I couldn't sleep! Do you want to go to the meeting a little early?'

'Well actually I was hoping to-'

'-I knew you would agree! We can grab some breakfast on the way.'

'You seem to know an awful lot this morning, Rangiku.'

Matsumoto waved her comment aside with a gesture of her hand and pulled Nanao towards her long, dull day of activity. Regardless of how much she tried, she could not get into the spirit of the day along with everyone else. And no amount of excited babbling or admiring the great job everyone had done with the decorations could change that. Rangiku pulled her from meeting to meeting with as much enthusiasm as she could muster, then threatened to tie her to the chair when she tried to excuse herself when the girly screams became too much. It was late afternoon when, finally, she was allowed to return to Eighth Squad.

There was a pit of nerves in her stomach.

To her utter horror Shunsui was _still_ lying in bed when she thought it would be prudent to try and find if at least one of them had managed to get some work done today.

'Taicho! It's almost dark again!' She reprimanded as she tried to shake him awake. He grabbed her by the arms and pulled her down next to him, his large arms engulfing her small frame.

'You can't call me that anymore Nanao-chan,' he reminded her gently, his lazy eyes meeting her. She felt her cheeks blaze. 'Are you alright?'

'No,' she answered honestly. 'I just have this horrible feeling.'

He held her closer, their lips meeting. 'I've got you, my lovely Nanao. You're safe as long as I'm here.'

Nanao felt herself move even further against him.

A cold shiver ran down her spine.

AN: First thanks to everyone for their reviews! And also it is again after 2am so please as always forgive my grammar/spelling. Well things are coming to a climax and I can't wait to see what happens, I still have not decided how to end it but I am looking forward to seeing everyone dressed for the Ball. If you can think of what you would like to see other character's wearing then tell me and I will try and work it in. I look forward to seeing everyone in Chapter 13...


	13. Dances

Nanao had seriously considered not attending the Ball. It had been on her mind the entire day, and no matter what Matsumoto tried to say to cheer her up nothing could deter her anxiousness over the whole affair. To make matters worse Shunsui had seemed rather ill since he had awoken, although neither of them would voice aloud their concerns for yet another bout of bad health. The day was simply filled with ill omens but yet here she stood, staring at her reflection in the mirror.

The kimono was beautiful, probably the nicest she had ever worn. It was black with a simple embroidered floral pattern at the bottom, the colour matching exactly the scarlet obi belt that held the ensemble together. She had elected to keep her hair up although it was not her usual strict style, but rather a looser variation with bits of hair hanging places that Rangiku had assured her were meant to look like they had fallen loose. Irritably she pushed a few strands behind her ear, knowing that this would be happening every few minutes until the night's conclusion, but resigned herself for once to suffer it out.

Nanao had little time to fret over her appearance; she simply did not want to upset Rangiku by undoing her hard work.

Outside her room she could hear the excited voices of her squad echoing through the office, although her keen ears had yet to pick out the voice of the one man she wanted to hear. As far as Nanao was aware he was across the hall getting ready, although it would not have surprised her if he had fallen asleep again. Picking up one final accessory, and silently thanking whoever had picked a kimono with such long sleeves, Nanao felt a little more comforted by the familiar weight against her left arm.

She slid the door open and crossed the dark corridor to where Shunsui was currently hiding. Her knuckles rapped the doorframe lightly. Anxiously she waited for a reply but all she was presented with was silence. She knocked again, harder this time, and when he did not respond for a second time Nanao decided now was not the time for politeness.

'I am coming in.' She declared loudly as her fingers pushed the door aside, a nervous twinge in her stomach prompting her legs to move faster. 'Taicho, are you alri-'

The words dried in her throat.

He was standing at the far end of the room staring out the window; however even though she could not see anything but the back of his scarlet haori Nanao felt her cheeks flare. Shunsui sighed deeply and turned around, his eyes demonstrating the surprise of seeing her stand there. Nanao felt the redness of her cheeks spread. Despite her ill feelings about the Ball, she felt her heart fluttering as she tried to reclaim her lost breath. The way he looked was beyond her ability to put into words.

'It looks like Rangiku-chan managed again this year,' Nanao said finally. 'I think your fan club will be rendered helpless at the sight of you.'

He smiled softly. 'Was that a compliment, Nanao? Thankfully there is only one woman I am interested in impressing. One who looks more beautiful than my entire fan club combined.'

She blushed furiously, clearing her throat in an attempt to hide her embarrassment. 'Yes well, are you feeling better?'

He covered the distance of the room and pulled her into an embrace, kissing her softly. 'I feel better than I have ever done in my life. There is one question I would like to ask however?'

'And what would that be?'

He smiled slyly. 'Does that Zanpaktou up your sleeve come standard with that kimono or did you have it specially made?'

Nanao pulled away a little, frowning ever so slightly. 'I am just being cautious. Unlike your showy Katen Kyoukatsu, my Zanpaktou is shaped for situations such as these.'

'Indeed. You never know when the fan club will take their claws out...'

'Taicho! Be serious!'

He laughed shortly. 'I am, Ise-fukutaicho. I will be on high alert of course but that does not mean I can't enjoy myself in the process. _And_ I want my annual dance.'

She shook her head in disgust. 'How can that even be in your head with all this Yamamoto business?'

'I have my priorities my sweet Nanao, the first of which is getting a dance. Yama-jii can wait. And speaking of waiting Jyuushiro will be wandering where we are since we were meant to meet him a couple of minutes ago.'

Nanao shook her head, wandering if wearing a kimono would hinder her ability to use _shunpo_. She felt her hand being grabbed by one much larger as silently he led her down the corridor and down the stairs where a small band of men and women were waiting eagerly, no doubt, to see what their captain would be wearing. Everyone went completely silent as masks of surprise took over every face.

It felt like an eternity before anyone spoke.

They endured the compliments for as long as was polite before Shunsui suddenly remembered that they were late for their meeting with Ukitake and dragged Nanao down the hall, with promises of conversations and drinking together later being shouted back. They reached the door in record speed and unsurprisingly it was freezing cold.

They managed to get to the gate before he swept her into his arms suddenly and used _shunpo_, arriving at the meeting place within a couple of seconds. Kiyone started at their sudden appearance, her voice suddenly dying as she caught sight of what Shunsui was wearing.

'Wow! Nanao-chan you look...' The younger woman began before Matsumoto shrieked and began attacking her with a string of barely comprehensible compliments.

'You look beautiful as always Rangiku,' Nanao confirmed as the embarrassment finally began to fade from her face. 'You too, Kiyone.' Both were wearing pink; Matsumoto's the same colour as the scarf she usually wore, the other a paler shade that was almost white.

Hitsugaya cleared his throat impatiently.

'Doesn't my Taicho look cute as well?' Matsumoto declared proudly, clearing misinterpreting his reasons for needing their attention. 'He wasn't even going to come but I managed to convince him in the end _and_ we had so much fun shopping as well!'

'Matsumoto...' he began warningly before Jyuushiro waved a hand dismissively.

'Well I am glad you did come, Toushiro-kun. If things transpire the way I predict they will we will need all the allies we can get,' Ukitake said sombrely.

A heavy pause fell over the group.

Nanao felt her hand being grabbed by Shunsui. He smiled lazily. 'There is no point in denying the inevitable any longer than we need to. Shall we be off?'

There were unenthusiastic nods of consent and together the small group set off towards what they all knew would be some sort of trap. Nanao instinctively walked as close to him as she could, a habit she had picked up many years ago without thinking that it had actually meant anything beyond the fact they trusted each other. His large form always made her feel safer for some reason. Shunsui, however, seemed equally as anxious as herself and it was not the reassurance she was after.

They reached the enormous hall near the centre of Seireitei where the event was being held. There was music echoing all the way down the street and almost as loud were the excited voices of the Shinigami who were trying not to run towards it. She felt his hand tightened around her own as they began to get caught in the crowd, one that quickly parted for the entourage of high ranking individuals. Nanao kept her eyes fixed in front of her and pretended not to hear the whispers that haunted them all the way to the door. It was with some relief, if only brief, that they finally got inside.

The first thing she noticed was Yamamoto, or rather the first person she made a point of looking for was the soutaicho. He was wearing intimidating black robes and most notable about his appearance was the distinct lack of his fukutaicho. Even in a social situation she seldom saw the two of them apart, and it immediately struck her as odd. Next she scouted the room for those Taicho who would more than likely side with Yamamoto if things were to come to a head.

Soi Fon was standing surrounded by her entire squad, and sporting a rather dangerous kimono that almost made Matsumoto's look timid. Kurotsuchi Mayuri was wearing the oddest haori she had seen, the pattern looking suspiciously like hypodermic needles. Unsurprisingly Nemu was wearing a kimono even more dangerous than the other two women put together. With a measure of disgust Nanao looked away, scouting the hall for the rest of the Captains.

'Nanao-chan! I want to dance!' A voice declared suddenly, breaking her concentration.

'Well go and dance then,' Nanao replied distractedly. 'Just keep alert.'

He pulled her into his suffocating embrace. 'You don't understand! I want to dance with my Nanao-chan!'

'Well Nanao-chan is busy. There are a group of women over there who are queuing up to look at you, I am sure none of them would mind dancing with you either.'

He looked hurt. 'You are so mean! As your captain I demand that you dance with me!'

She sighed irritably. 'Well if it will get your head out of the clouds and on the task at hand then I suppose one dance will not do too much harm.'

Nanao found herself being dragged towards the centre of the room before the words had finished leaving her mouth. Too her dismay it was at that exact moment that the music shifted from an upbeat tune to one of those slow pieces, and every female eye in the room turned to stare at them as the slowly moved together. She felt her cheeks grow read with a mixture of anger and embarrassment, but it was pressed far too closely into his chest for anyone to really notice.

The song came to a slow stop but somehow she managed to get roped into dancing with him again. She was not a good dancer, she did not enjoy dancing least of all in front of other people, but there was something in his eyes that made sure she could not resist the pleading stares. Eventually she was rescued by an already slightly drunk Rangiku who – despite Hitsugaya-taicho's stern warnings about drinking in such a delicate atmosphere that was liable to erupt into chaos at the drop of a hat – fell into Shunsui's large arms in a vague swaying motion. He shrugged gently and went with it leaving Nanao, at last, to her business of getting a bearing on the situation.

However she had barely made it to where her squad was busy getting as drunk as they could before she found herself being pulled into a dance with Ukitake-taicho who, admittedly, almost rivalled Shunsui in terms of looks this evening. It earned her even more hateful glares but she ignored them as always. Abarai-kun caught her just as she had thanked the white haired captain and somehow from that Nanao ended up dancing with Kira-kun _and_ Hisagi-kun. Iba-san caught her just when she thought she had escaped, and by her estimation it had taken at least half an hour to make it from one side of the dance floor to the other.

Another slow one came on again and Nanao quickly found a bench that was nowhere near the bustle of the crowd. Absently she watched Kuchiki-taicho in a magnificent shade of blue dance slowly with Rukia-san in lavender and tried to catch her breath. It took less than a minute for Shunsui to find her again.

'No more dancing,' she told him sternly before he had even sat down. 'It only becomes more awkward as people become drunker. Incidentally how much _sake_ have you drunk?

He looked at her with feign shock. 'Really, Nanao-chan! Would an esteemed captain such as myself drink when I know that danger is just around the corner?'

She looked at him dubiously. 'And what exactly would you describe your actions as during the ryoka invasion? You spent the entire search drinking _sake_ until that poor ryoka just happened to stumble nearby.'

He waved a hand dismissively. 'I was thinking up battle tactics. Alcohol makes me think better. At any rate I did not come to ask you to dance I simply came to see if you wanted to get some air.'

'Oh,' she replied simply. 'That would be nice.'

Shunsui offered a wide grin and grabbed her hand, his size making it easy to part the large throng of people loitering near the exit. A wave of dizziness hit her along with the fresh air but it passed quickly. Together they walked a little away from the hustle and found a small part of the garden that was shaded by a large, snow-canopied tree. It was freezing cold so Nanao stood as close to him as she could and she felt her cheeks flare as he wrapped his large arms around her.

Silently they stood there, enveloped in each other's aura and Nanao realised that for the first time in her life she felt truly content. She would have been happy to stand there forever, frozen in time so that nothing would have to change and they would not have to face whatever Yamamoto would throw at them. She felt her eyes watering, but the tears froze on her pale cheeks.

'It is almost time my sweet Nanao-chan,' he sighed darkly. 'Yama-jii's speech is at the same time each year. You would have to believe that if he was to try anything then it would be during his speech.'

'When all attention is on him,' Nanao added and felt her voice dry up. They were silent for a while. Eventually she continued. 'Shunsui...'

'Yes my lovely Nanao?'

'We could always just, you know, not go to the speech...'

His embrace tightened noticeably. 'I had thought about it. We could just leave now, not bother with it, but it wouldn't do any good. He would come after us in the end, and I would not want to leave Jyuushiro to face Yamamoto on his own.'

'Your right...' she trailed off. 'I suppose we should head back soon.'

'Another minute, Nanao-chan.'

It began to snow heavily as they walked back slowly, his hand wrapped tightly around her own, a sombre look on both their faces. They found Ukitake and his subordinates near the back of the hall next to a sour faced Hitsugaya. Matsumoto was sitting down on a bench not far off, all effects of whatever she had been drinking gone. They all looked up in unison and Nanao felt her entire stomach flutter with nerves. Yamamoto was heading to the stage, the room was growing silent.

The time was upon them at last.

The fast paced music grounded to a halt and polite applause filled the room momentarily. The old man looked down at them all, not saying anything, clutching his staff tighter than he usually did. Everyone present knew that it was actually his Zanpaktou, it could only be a sign of what was to come. Nanao pressed her sleeve close against her side, making sure her own hidden weapon was still there. No one else was armed, no one except her. Kidou – even when used by a captain – would be no match.

Nanao knew she would not be able to last more than a couple of seconds against Yamamoto, but even if she could buy the others that amount of time it would still be better than nothing. She held her breath, and trained her blue eyes on him.

'Another year past, and here we all stand again,' he began with a warm smile. 'It has been a challenging year for us all, and we can only hope that the tragedies that have befallen us can be rectified.' Murmurs of agreement filled the room and he continued once the noise had died. 'But we cannot forget all the good that has come from all of this. The bonds of unity are stronger than ever and together we will overcome the dangers that lie ahead...'

Nanao sat down next to Matsumoto as the speech went on, waiting for the sudden change of tone or any sort of indication that he was about to launch an offensive. Yet it was increasingly obvious as the minutes went by with painful slowness that Yamamoto was not going to do anything except reiterate the speech he gave pretty much every year.

She looked up at Shunsui, he was frowning heavily, and wondered if it was possible they had been wrong.

The speech ended to ardurous applause and the room suddenly became filled with music and dancing once more. Everyone sprang up to dance – everyone but the rather obvious collection of black auras hidden in the corner speaking in harsh whispers.

'Taicho...' Nanao began out of simple habit. 'What do we do?'

No one knew the answer to that question. Nanao watched Yamamoto walk over towards them at a rather fast pace, his ancient face illuminated by a kind smile. She felt her muscles tighten and sprang to her feet before she lost the ability to move entirely. Her smaller body moved next to the towering form of Shunsui, although it would offer no protection if something was to happen now.

'Why do you all look so depressed? Surely my speech was not that dull?' He began light-heartedly. 'Shunsui, I am surprised at you! You are still sober! And you too Jyuushiro.'

'And so are you, Yama-jii,' Shunsui replied with a convincing grin. 'Last year we had to carry each other home and here we all are, still as sober as Nanao-chan during tax season. I suppose we can blame old age today.'

'I suppose we can,' Yamamoto agreed. 'At any rate I did come over here for a reason. Nanao, you have danced with everyone but me tonight and I am cutting in. Indulge an old man, won't you?'

She felt her stomach drop but how could she refuse? Dimly she nodded and began to follow behind him. Shunsui grabbed her wrist before she had taken a couple of steps, kissing her deeply and taking the hidden Zanpaktou from up her sleeve in the process. 'That would be impossible to explain,' he assured her with a worried whisper.

Nanao sensed the truth in this but she suddenly felt terribly exposed without her sword.

The room seemed to grow silent as they reached the wooden dance floor, even though the music and the voices were still as loud as they had been all night. She did not resist as he wrapped an arm around her and together they began to sway to the song that did not reach her ears.

'I am glad that you and Shunsui finally got together,' he began with a smile. 'You were the best thing that ever happened to that man. And to think he was opposed to having you as a fukutaicho to begin with.'

Nanao nodded. She had known this much and it had taken almost a decade for him to finally just accept she was not going anywhere, and that he would be doing his job even if she had to tie him to his chair and force him. 'I was opposed to being his fukutaicho to begin with. He had been through so many, and to be honest it is not that surprising, but at last I can finally get him to do what I want.'

'That is what they must call a woman's touch, Nanao.' He paused briefly and Nanao took this opportunity to glance over at where Shunsui was still standing next to Jyuushiro. His face looked pale. She could not even offer him a smile, and he could not do much better. She felt the grip around her waist grow ever so slightly tighter and when Yamamoto looked at her again, his eyes had changed. 'I did have an ulterior motive for asking you to dance with me.' Nanao felt her body tensing, she caught sight of Sasakibe approaching – he was holding something – and an aged hand grabbed her wrist tightly. 'It would seem the time is right.'

And then suddenly all the music stopped, the doors slammed shut and everyone grew silent as Nanao let loose a high-pitched scream of pain as he pulled her back into his chest, his Zanpaktou held so tightly at her throat that blood was trickling from where it touched her flesh. She felt his terrible aura shredding at her own.

'Nanao!' Shunsui began as he sprang towards them.

'Do not move, Shunsui, or I will kill her,' Yamamoto began darkly. 'It is time you learned what disobedience will earn you. Sasakibe, if you would.'

The old fukutaicho covered the distance of the room quickly and handed the soutaicho the item in his hand. It was a scroll. It was the forbidden scroll.

'Now then, it is time the main event truly begins.'

AN: Sorry it took so long. I recently got a new job so that takes up all my time but that aside here is chapter thirteen! Finally things are heating up but, more important by far, picture Shunsui in that haori...drool...anyway...thanks to everyone for being so patient and I do hope it was worth the wait. I sort of know how I am going to end it now (at last) so I look forward to writing that! See everyone in Chapter 14 where all will be revealed.


	14. Captain

Shunsui couldn't breathe. Raw terror – the likes of which he has never experienced in his entire long existence - had snatched him with relentless claws. Nanao was in front of him, her body motionless and unable to function because of the suffocating aura that was spilling from the old man who held her captive. Yet he could not move. He could not think rationally and it took less than a single breath for his emotions to destroy his common sense, prompting him to _shunpo_ towards Yamamoto with as much speed and power as he could muster. He did not have his Zanpaktou in his hand nor could he find the concentration to perform kidou but this did not matter. All he knew was that Nanao was in danger and he had to do whatever it took to save her.

His body was engulfed in the amazing aura of the soutaicho but he did not allow it to slow him down in anyway. He felt something smash against his chest suddenly, pushing him backwards into the quick reflexes of Jyuushiro. Shunsui felt blood trickle down his chin and a tremendous pain in his ribs but right now he did not care. The old man had protected himself with kidou but that would not be a problem for much longer. He was, by his own admission, not much of kidou user but the few spells he had taken the time to master were powerful enough to cope with situations such as these.

He recovered quickly and made to spring at the soutaicho once again but someone was holding him back. Angrily he tried to pull away but Jyuushiro has a firm grip on his arm, a concerned look in his eyes. Shunsui did not care. He needed to get to Nanao! Several more hands grabbed him before he could lunge again, the collective power of who was too great for him to shake off.

'You will get her killed!' Jyuushiro reprimanded firmly.

Shunsui looked across the hall to where Yamamoto was standing and met his gaze levelly. 'If you do anything to hurt her I will kill you.'

The old man smiled. 'Such harsh words. No one has to die tonight; Nanao is simply my assurance to your cooperation. You were always stubborn, Shunsui, when it came to things you did not want to do. Now, you will listen to all I have to say without losing your head, are we clear?'

Shunsui's gaze slipped to the woman being held captive before him and found he could not say anything. Yamamoto took his silence as consent.

'Very well. I have kept you all waiting long enough so now, at last I shall explain myself. I am sure none of you can forget our recent betrayal by Aizen Sosuke and his subordinates, and I am sure each and every one of you knows exactly how much of a chance we stand against the arrancar army he is building in Hueco Mundo.' He paused briefly. The room remained silent. 'You will all die.'

An angry ripple of noise erupted from the shinigami who were surrounding them. Shunsui remained silent, his concentration on only the man before him. He knew firsthand the strength of the arrancar – the vasto lords – better than most; yet he clearly believed in the strength of his fellow shinigami more than their grand commander did. The room descended into silence once more.

'So I began to think of a plan, one that meant I would not be the only shinigami with a chance of standing up against Aizen. I had Sasakibe do research on the arrancar, even though I knew he would probably not return alive, and I concluded that nothing in our current arsenal would suffice. So I started looking into forbidden kidou that we no longer taught at the academy, spells that would make us more powerful!'

'Those spells were forbidden for a reason!' Ukitake protested angrily. 'What good would such powerful kidou be if it killed half the shinigami who tried to master it?

'Yes, well you would know all about that now, Jyuushiro.' Yamamoto smiled darkly. He had finally reached what he really wanted to say. 'My research led me to a scroll deep within the archives, one that we had tried to destroy many years ago, but was protected by kidou we have no knowledge of. Not only that, I could not open it regardless of how hard I tried. I was close to giving up but then it occurred to me to look for some sort of reference, one from the time the scroll was sealed.'

Shunsui sensed where this was going. Yamamoto knew they were involved; it was the only explanation for what was happening. He felt the grips around him lessen slightly as his restrainers became more interested in what was being said. When the opportunity arose, he would be able to break free. He looked at Nanao again. The fear had disappeared from her face, replaced with the familiar indifference that accompanied her when she was analysing something. Their eyes met briefly and Shunsui felt his heart soar. His Nanao-chan was not as helpless as she was pretending to be. She had something, there was no doubt.

It was simply a case of waiting for the right moment and guessing what she had in mind. He still had her Zanpaktou up the sleeve of his haori, it was roughly the same size as his own smaller sword so he was more than able to use it if need be. But a Zanpaktou was a personal artefact; it would open to no one but the person who it belonged to. His best bet was to get it to her. Its ability would prove far more helpful in this situation than just attacking with a blade.

Yamamoto had his gaze concentrated wholly on Shunsui now. 'I found the scroll I was looking for and didn't I receive a pleasant surprise! Not only did I discover that my two brightest pupils happened to be at the academy when this scroll was last used, but they were in fact the last people to use it!' He took a step forward, dragging Nanao with him. 'I couldn't very well ask them to open it for me without telling them my plan – a plan, as their resistance during the ryoka invasion demonstrated – they would not accept without a fight. So I staged the theft of the scroll; I hid it deep within the walls of first squad. I had to make certain I was on the right track. Your expressions when I announced the theft was all the proof I needed.'

Shunsui felt his heart pounding in his chest over the ache in his ribs. He didn't dare break his gaze from the old man in case he caught on to what Nanao was planning. However it meant he could not see either. It was proving almost beyond his ability, not being able to check if she was alright. He clenched his fist angrily as the old man took another step forward.

'I waited to see if they would stumble across the truth, to see if they would realise my plan. All I needed was for both of them to try and open the scroll whilst they still thought I was oblivious to what they had done. However I had overestimated their abilities. Even when I threatened them they still did not grasp what was happening. So I staged the theft of a second scroll, the one that would make them realise I was on to them. Yet, still I was disappointed.'

'What are you talking about?' Byakuya asked, confused. He was not the only one unaware to what was being referred. No one but Shunsui and Jyuushiro knew what was truly going on here. 'What could you possibly need Kyouraku and Ukitake-senpai for? Why would you need them to open the scroll?'

Yamamoto silenced Sixth Squad's captain with a glance. 'Because, Kuchiki-taicho, they were the reason it was sealed in the first place. They were experimenting around with the kidou back in their youth, and that was not without consequence. Did it never occur to you that it was a little odd for a man as powerful as Ukitake to be in a state of constant ill health; or that Shunsui, despite his obvious vitality, is perpetually tired? Did no one even _think_ that the fact both have been growing worse in their condition was in any way related to the scroll going missing? How very disappointing.'

Shunsui could feel Jyuushiro's hands trembling.

'So it was the kidou in the scroll that made them so? It is as dangerous as Ukitake-san said,' Hitsugaya observed aloud.

Yamamoto shook his head. 'I thought so to begin with. So, tired as I was of waiting, I planted the scroll in Shunsui's office where it would be found easily. I thought if I could get him to touch it, the scroll would open and my plan would be complete. I would have the kidou I needed to beat the arrancar. However...'

'...it did not work,' Unohana finished quietly.

Yamamoto fixed her with fiery eyes. 'Quite the opposite, it worked fine!' He snatched the scroll from Sasakibe and pulled the long parchment free, allowing it to spiral onto the floor like a pale serpent. '_This is the problem! The scroll is blank! There is nothing left! It wasn't playing around with powerful kidou that made them both ill; it was erasing it from the scroll.'_

Unohana seemed to be the only one who had realised the significance of this. 'If what you say is true, then that would mean...'

'...Yes!' Yamamoto exclaimed manically. 'The kidou is no longer within the bindings that controlled its amazing power, its trapped within those two. And I want it back, whatever the cost!'

'But, if they were to release the kidou back into the scroll – assuming they could – they would in all probability die!' Unohana exclaimed, aghast.

The old man simply frowned. 'I am sure neither of them would mind redeeming themselves for this crime. Sacrificing a couple of disobedient puppies in exchange for defeating the arrancar is a trade I am willing to make.'

Shunsui was clenching his fists so tightly they were bleeding. He was about to lose himself again but a quiet voice stopped him before he could move.

'If that is the way you feel, Yamamoto-soutaicho,' Nanao began as he watched the small ball of kidou in her hand burrow into the old man's body, 'then that makes you no better than the arrancar!'

Yamamoto sprang back with surprise, throwing his prisoner across the room with tremendous force. Shunsui sprang forward, catching her in his outstretched arms before she hit the hard floor. His ribs screamed in protest but it was a small price to pay. They fell backwards against the wall and his legs gave out from under him.

'Are you alright Nanao-chan?' He asked frantically. 'Nanao!'

She opened her large blue eyes and placed a warm hand delicately against his cheek. She smiled weakly. 'I'm fine as long as you're here.'

'How very touching!' A voices spat angrily from the other side of the room. Yamamoto was tearing towards them both, the scroll trailing behind him. 'How _dare_ you attack me, Ise Nanao? Don't think you can escape reprimand when this is all over! Attacking me is treason! And you, Kyouraku Shunsui! I won't let you escape unpunished either.' Crushing reiatsu began radiating from the old man.

Shunsui felt his ears ringing and watched as almost every shinigami around him began to collapse with the pressure. Half of the fukutaicho were paralysed to the spot, the rest being supported by captains who were fairing little better. Jyuushiro had his arm raised in an attempt to prevent the raging energy from tearing apart his two third seats. He could see the strain it was causing. Unlike last time they had fought, Ukitake was far from a good state of health. If he was anything like Shunsui, when the scroll had been opened his energy had slowly began to leach away. Kyouraku knew his friend needed his help.

'We need to help Jyuushiro,' he informed Nanao in an undertone. 'Do you have any sort of plan?'

Nanao looked up at him – he was surprised by how well she was resisting his aura – and nodded. 'You will have to trust me, Taicho. I don't have the strength to attack him in this situation.'

'What do you have in mind?'

She sat up, leaning closer to his ear. 'I need my Zanpaktou. Now pay attention.'

Nanao held her breath, her arm draped around his neck as Yamamoto stalked towards them at a terrifying pace. It was not quick – it was indeed quite the opposite – but it only served to make the nerves in her stomach seem even greater than they actually were. In her free hand, concealed beneath the folds of Shunsui's haori she held her Zanpaktou. It was unsheathed and the only thing between its blade and his skin were some thin layers of clothes. Yet Nanao knew her Zanpaktou would never hurt him. If anything her entire plan was reliant on this.

They waited until he was closer. Shunsui stood up, she felt him strain as her weight grated against his injury. He had probably broken his ribs when he had recklessly charged to her rescue; she had been close enough to hear a sickening crack. Yet it had been this that had brought her mind back from the terror that had possessed it when Yamamoto's reiatsu had threatened to tear every fibre of her being a part. She wanted to tell him to put her down, that she would manage fine on her own, but Nanao knew that she would never be able to move fast enough. They only had one shot after all.

Yamamoto met them with a terrible gaze as his own Zanpaktou appeared in his hand, replacing the walking stick that usually disguised it. It was sheathed yet Nanao could feel the power radiating from the weapon – it was beyond any force she had ever endured in her entire life. The urge to black out was overwhelming and it was only the strong arms of Shunsui and the knowledge that their only chance lay in her plan that prevented it. She chanced a look around – only the other captains stood now. Kiyone and Sentarou were slumped behind Jyuushiro, conscious but unable to move. Matsumoto had sunk against a pillar and was slowly sliding down it, her eyes glazed.

Nanao embraced her friend's suffering and allowed it to strengthen her resolve.

'Are you ready, Nanao-chan?' Shunsui whispered.

Her entire body shook; she pressed it closer into his. 'This is our only chance. Now!'

With that single world several things happened all at once. Shunsui with his tremendous speed moved towards Yamamoto and Nanao saw enough before the old man became a blur to know that he was not a little surprised by this sudden movement. Yet Nanao did not have time to gawk in amazement – she somehow had to keep up with him. As soon as his foot had left the ground she had pulled her small Zanpaktou free from its hiding place, a white glow flaring brightly only to be swallowed by their speed.

It had been a while since she had released it but it felt more powerful than ever. However, it was still nothing compared to the flaming brand they were charging towards. She looked up at Shunsui, her free arm grasping his neck tightly as his hand fell free, and felt him grasp the hilt of her Zanpaktou. His palm was cool despite the heat generating from Yamamoto's sword and she could feel his strength flowing through her own weapon. She pulled her hand away as her sword bled into shikai, the incantation she spoke lost to the noise pounding against her eardrums. The small blade split in half, two daggers scarcely the length of her hand replacing it. She watched as Shunsui launched one of them at their opponent with as much strength and distance as he could manage.

Yamamoto had not been expecting it.

The small blades edge grazed his cheek as it flew past, landing delicately back in Nanao's palm at the other end of the room. They reformed by their own accord, she was unable to release her shikai for long in these conditions; even the second it had taken for them to make it from one side of the room to the other had managed to drain her reiatsu greatly. Her breath fell in heavy unison with the man who still held on to her tightly. They had barely scratched him.

Yet a scratch was all it took.

'There was always something bitterly ironic about your Zanpaktou's ability,' Shunsui commented earnestly as they watched the old man's eyes begin to lose focus, his sword arm slipping ever so slightly.

'What did you do?' Ukitake asked as he stood firmly, still guarding his third seats from the dangerous aura. 'Come to think of it, I have no idea what Nanao's shikai ability is.'

Despite everything Shunsui smiled. 'My Nanao-chan has two lovely little daggers that are tipped with a very special poison. They cause nausea, distortion of the senses, slowing of movement and a great reduction in the capacity for coherent thought. If affected badly enough, the opponent can pass out within a few seconds but still be completely intoxicated even after they wake up.'

Ukitake looked at her disbelievingly. 'So, in short, your Zanpaktou makes people feel extremely drunk?'

Nanao found herself smiling slightly. 'Crudely put, it can. My shikai's ability works depending on whatever kidou I happen to be using at the time. The 'poison' I used just so happens to be easiest to manipulate.'

The terrible aura around them began to dissipate slightly, enough so that those who were paralyzed to the floor could find the strength to sit up, but it was far too early to relax. This was only the start of their plan. They had to get as far away from here as they could before Yamamoto recovered his senses, and come up with some way to make him see sense. Nanao noticed every shinigami in the room was staring at them. Some looked angry at their attack on the soutaicho; others looked angry at the fact the soutaicho had hurt them and their subordinates. A couple looked indifferent, and would no doubt shy away from this conflict as soon as they were able.

Nanao could sense a war approaching.

She looked at Yamamoto. He was still standing there, his Zanpaktou held in his hand loosely and his expression dazed. It would not keep him sedated for long.

'Taicho, what do we do now?' Nanao asked, concerned.

He looked at her with a lazy smile. 'I'm not sure, Fukutaicho, what would you suggest? That little trick won't keep him off our backs for more than a couple of minutes. And even in that time, nothing we can do will even remotely harm him. For that we require Zanpaktou. Shall we risk running to the office, and keeping as many innocent people as we can away from harm? Or do we try and use kidou? Ukitake, what do you think?'

The white haired man was frowning deeply. 'Escaping this room may not be as easy as that. Not everyone here is on our side, Shunsui, and even if they are a fight with Yamamoto-sensei is not something they can duly allow to occur. We should have been better prepared.'

Shunsui sighed. 'No use regretting it. We shouldn't have messed around with that scroll but there is nothing we can do about it now. Do you think we could shunpo to where are Zanpaktou are and back before he recovers? We'll fight our way out if we have to. Nanao-chan, do you think you can keep up?'

'Well with you injured, I think so. Are you sure you are up for it?'

He waved a hand dismissively, finally putting her feet back on the ground. 'I'm fine. It just means you get to nurse me back to health later, while I lie helplessly in bed.'

Nanao raised an eyebrow. 'And how does that differ to every other day?'

He looked ready to supply an answer but Ukitake got there first. 'Enough, both of you; we don't have time to argue. Are you ready to be back here in two minutes time?

'I'll race you, Jyuushiro. Come on Nanao-chan, before everyone else realises what we are up to!'

'Don't fall behind,' she teased as they disappeared from the room. They burst past the door and the members of First Squad who were standing guard before they knew what was happening. None of them were quick enough to offer any sort of chase. Nanao raced forward, the bitterly cold wind ravaging her entire body. The kimono was difficult to move in and it took a fair amount of concentration not to trip over. She was resisting the urge to kick off her sandals and simply run in her tabi socks but she did not like the idea of having wet feet as well as cold ones. That, and by the time she got them off, she would have wasted the amount of time it would take to arrive at the office already.

Painfully she endured, her eyes never leaving the man who was just ahead of her. Nanao knew her captain well. More importantly, she knew the man beneath the haori better than anyone. That's why she could tell just by looking that he was in a worse condition than he would ever let on. He was breathing heavily, and his arm was wrapped firmly around his ribs as he ran because it no doubt felt like he was being stabbed in the chest with every step he took.

Yet it was more than just the injury.

She had sensed his reiatsu grow steadily weaker ever since the soutaicho had opened the scroll. It was draining him somehow, as it probably was Ukitake-taicho as well. Nanao felt her gaze narrow. If they stood a chance then she had to find a way to destroy the scroll. Surely it wasn't as impossible as everyone said? Her Zanpaktou manipulated kidou...there had to be a way. The problem would be getting a hold of it in the first place.

They reached the gates of Eighth Squad within less than a minute and neither of them stopped to open the gate. They simply went over the top, kicking off the wall and landing through the open window of the second floor corridor. Shunsui pushed the sliding door of his room open and trounced across the room to where Katen Kyoukotsu sat proudly on display. It was the only thing in his room that wasn't in dire need of a good dusting.

Despite their haste, he picked it up delicately and placed it firmly within his obi belt. He took a swig of the _sake_ bottle that was on the shelf for good measure as he made towards the door again and together they moved back towards the window. Nanao got one foot on the ledge when a firm hand grabbed her hand, spinning her around.

She found his lips upon hers suddenly. The kiss was long, passionate, and it made every hair on her body stand on end. It was a kiss that she never wanted to end because it would probably be the last one they ever shared. Her stomach fluttered and she felt cold tears running down her cheeks.

'You know how much I love you, Nanao-chan.' He said simply as he finally withdrew his warm lips.

She burrowed into his chest, despite his injuries. She needed to be close to him – to smell his scent, to feel the gentle rise and fall of his breath – and it shattered her resolve.

'Shunsui,' she began as tears choked her. 'I don't think I can do this! I can't _stand_ the thought of losing you.'

He wrapped his arms around her entire body. 'Everything will be alright my darling Nanao. With you next to me, it is impossible to lose. We will fix this mess and then, after that, we can be well on our way to having those six children we talked about.'

She looked up at him, somehow managing to find the will to smile. 'And a cat,' she reminded him. 'One that sleeps just as much as you do.'

He smiled back at her warmly. 'Don't be silly Nanao-chan; no cat could ever sleep as much as me.'

There was a pause, one that lasted forever.

Together they set out back towards the Ball, his hand wrapped firmly around her own. It had only been a couple of minutes but Nanao felt like it had been an eternity since they had left, and enough had certainly happened to reaffirm her feelings. They landed at the door, but what had previously been a scene of confusion and dissolved into a battleground. All around them shinigami were fighting each other. Taicho. Fukutaicho. Seated members. Unranked members. It did not matter.

However the noise from within the hall itself was most concerning. Screeches echoed across the entire snowy garden and Nanao recognised the sound of Yamamoto's Zanpaktou.

Nanao felt her heart skip a beat.

Ukitake was already back, his swords defending with increasingly less vigour against an attack that was far too much for his weakened body to handle.

'Jyuushiro!' Shunsui shouted over the noise. 'Nanao-chan, Sasakibe has the scroll. I will keep Yamamoto busy. Do what you can to get it – I know you are more powerful than that old man.'

'I will get the scroll,' she declared with a confidence she did not have. 'Don't do anything stupid, or I will never forgive you.'

He nodded once, his smile scarcely visible. 'Flowers are disturbed; the god of flowers weeps,' he began as he unsheathed both of his katana. 'Winds of Heaven are disturbed; the demon of Heaven laughs.' She watched as both his weapons changed shape. His shikai never failed to impress her, even if she was training against it and it was nothing short of pummeling her into the ground. 'Katen Kyoukotsu!'

They shared one last glance and then he was gone, his weapon bearing the brunt of his sensei's intent to kill him. Nanao tried to convince herself that it was enough to trust in him but the reiatsu radiating through the room was trying its best to change her mind. She took a breath. She had her own task to complete.

Steeling herself once more Nanao turned to face the haggard fukutaicho who stood at the opposite side of the room, his bruised hand clutching the still unfurled scroll. She cleared the distance in one step.

'Sasakibe-san,' she began as she withdrew her Zanpaktou from her sleeve once more. 'Give me the scroll. It is the only way to stop this madness.'

He looked down at her, a look of disgust on his face. 'I never had you, of all people, pegged as a traitor. You attacked Yamamoto-soutaicho. Ise-san, I cannot forgive you. You will suffer the same fate as those two captains. Prepare yourself.'

He lunged, his shikai released within the blink of an eye. Nanao had been expecting it. She did not raise her own sword, its surface far too small to provide a sufficient defence, but used _shunpo_ to evade it. Kidou flew from her hand, powerful despite the fact she had skipped the incantation entirely. It caught him on the shoulder. He stumbled back and Nanao took her defensive stance.

She was faster than he was, even in this kimono, and her kidou was more powerful as well. He was a sword user which, if he could not move fast enough to catch her, would put him at a major disadvantage. It was simply a case of analysing his movements and looking for an opening.

Sasakibe flew at her again and moved to slash at her neck. Nanao moved again, her blue eyes never missing a movement. She wanted more than anything to glance over to see what was going on in the fight between Shunsui, Ukitake and Yamamoto but she knew that to lose concentration would be fatal. She dodged another attack. Kidou flew from her outstretched hand, catching him on the chest.

'When did you become so good, Ise-san? If I recall, you were assigned to Eighth Squad so that Kyouraku could protect you in return for you keeping the office running. All those private lessons he gave you paying off?'

'That type of innuendo is hardly appropriate,' she reprimanded firmly as the hilt of her small sword found its way into her hand. The weapon split in two and she allowed the most powerful offensive spell she knew to flow into one of the daggers. She hit him in the exact same spot she had a moment ago, the wound caused by the kidou acting like a beacon. He let out a grunt of surprise, pulling her dagger out quickly and throwing back towards her with an intoxicated aim. She had scarcely caught it when he swayed dizzily and collapsed, blood pouring from his mouth.

Nanao used to _shunpo_ to move closer to his body. She quickly wretched the scroll from his hand and turned her back. With a sigh she turned back almost instantly, the second of her daggers held in her left hand. She pricked his finger with it carefully and felt the antidote spread across his body. It was enough to spare his life, nothing more.

There were more important things to concern her.

She held the scroll now. She placed both her small daggers against it but neither reacted. It was a condition of her shikai that she had to know the kidou she was channelling before it would work. Nanao glanced over to where Yamamoto was standing, his sword screaming down in movements she could barely follow. If what the old man had said was true, he had probably tried to use his sword to destroy the scroll. It was protected by kidou so it was of little surprise it had been undamaged. Given a couple of days Nanao probably could have figured it out. Yet as it stood she had seconds to figure out what to do.

Ukitake was crouching behind Shunsui, blood dripping from a wound on his head. He was incredibly pale, his eyes were distant. She looked up at her Taicho – saw the pain each movement caused him – and plunged her Zanpaktou into the scroll.

She barely opened her mouth to begin the incantation when she felt the scroll's reiatsu, it was ancient and powerful beyond anything she had felt; if she could simply get the particulars of it then she could use its own power to destroy it.

It was within her grasp, Nanao could feel it.

And suddenly it was all over. Her Zanpaktou had shattered before she had realised what had happened. The scroll had been snatched from her grasp; it was now in the ancient hands of the man who had suddenly realised his subordinate had been defeated. Blood was seeping from her palms but it was nothing compared to the shock of seeing what had happened to Shunsui.

He was panting hard, a gaping wound on his side.

'Taicho, I can destroy that scroll!' She declared quickly.

Yamamoto cut her off before she could say anything else. 'It would seem I have underestimated you, Ise Nanao. Sadly I cannot let anyone with that knowledge survive. You are a small sacrifice. It is for the greater good after all.'

He raised his sword and sped towards her, flames scorching the scene around her. She would have screamed had the choking reiatsu of Yamamoto not flared beyond anything she could measure, paralysing her where she knelt on the floor. The fire was upon her yet somehow she was not burning. Confused she looked up, and her stomach fell away entirely. Shunsui stood in front of her, his swords crossed before him an attempt to stave the incomparable strength of the soutaicho. Nanao could see the blood splashing on to the floor.

'Taicho...' she managed feebly but no more words would find their way to her voice. Tears began streaming down her cheeks but she was helpless.

Yamamoto pulled back a little. 'Bad boy! Why don't you go and faint like Ukitake and save me the trouble of beating you down?'

'Who would protect Nanao-chan if I went and did that?' He replied with a whisper of a smile.

The old man snorted indignantly. 'You are both going to die anyway. Be it here by my blade or by whatever method we devise to execute traitors, your time is up. Why don't you just save me the trouble and give up? Return the kidou that you took and I can save everyone!'

Nanao somehow managed to stand up. It all made perfect sense now. 'So that's it, Yamamoto-soutaicho. You want the kidou because you aren't strong enough to beat the arrancar on your own? God forbid you actually having to _rely_ on your subordinates to help you in this battle. God forbid anyone actually sees that the shinigami aren't all powerful. You would kill us all simply to protect your image.'

He met her eyes levelly. 'Image is everything. Now enough of this nonsense! Die, Ise Nanao!'

Yamamoto lunged again, this time faster than even Shunsui could defend.

A scream of total anguish echoed from her throat.

As if in slow motion she watched the blade collide with the flesh of the man she loved. He fell to the floor in a spray of crimson, his eyes wide with surprise. Nanao ran towards him, her own eyes a blur and her heart thumping painfully against her ribs.

'Taicho!' She shrieked, terrified. He did not respond. 'Taicho!'

He looked up at her, smiling. 'You can't call me that anymore, fukutaicho...'

His eyes slipped shut and Nanao looked at him as she had countless times before.

Only this time, the gentle snores had been replaced by bitter silence.

AN: Firstly, I am just guessing at Nanao's Zanpaktou but I thought I would give it a cameo (although I didn't want to cop out with some amazing coup de grace, so it's bye-bye potential solution to all the problems). But anyways, BAD YAMAMOTO! I had tons of fun writing this chapter, hence the length. I deliberated about splitting it into two chapters but I really wanted to end on something epically awful happening...I think this about did it. As always, thanks for the reviews, and as always – if you haven't already – join the LJ shusnui-nanao community! I cosplayed Nanao to Amecon a couple of weeks ago so I think I may do Shunsui to Fuyucon in October...can a girl get away with that...it'll be fun trying. See everyone in chapter 15


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